Pakistan strikes in Afghanistan killed 3 civilians, UN says

At least three civilians were killed and four injured in apparent Pakistani airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan, the UN mission in Afghanistan said, after Islamabad said it had hit “terrorist hubs” along the border.

Taliban deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said Nurgal district in Kunar province came under attack at about 3:00 am on Monday. He said a house in Patan village was completely destroyed, killing three members of one family and wounding four others. Fitrat said two locations in Paktika province were also bombarded, with no casualties reported there.

UNAMA said it had confirmed at least three civilians, including a man, a woman and a girl, were killed and four injured in apparent airstrikes in Kunar.

AFP journalists saw a house reduced to rubble in Patan, where men had gathered for the victims' funerals. Mubin Khan, a farmer wounded in the bombardment, told AFP that the house was destroyed during the night and that three members of his family were killed.

Pakistan's Information and Broadcasting Ministry confirmed Pakistani forces had struck three locations. It said the forces targeted “terrorist hubs” along the border “based on credible intelligence” and that 28 “terrorists” and multiple suicide bombers were killed. Afghanistan's Taliban government rejected that figure as untrue.

Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid condemned what he called “aggression” and said Afghans would give an appropriate response.

The strikes followed an attack on a police headquarters in northern Pakistan on Friday that killed at least 31 people, including 16 officers. Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan, a local faction linked to Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, claimed responsibility for that attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan.

Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of supporting jihadist groups responsible for deadly attacks in Pakistan. The Taliban government denies the allegation.

UNAMA said it has documented more than 1,100 civilian deaths and injuries in Afghanistan from cross-border armed violence so far in 2026 and called for respect for international humanitarian law to prevent civilian casualties.

Pakistan's previous deadly airstrikes in Afghanistan occurred in June and killed around 30 people. Islamabad said then it had targeted a TTP faction and killed fighters, while the Taliban government reported civilian casualties.