Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense said this week that its air force carried out airstrikes on alleged ISIS targets in Pakistan’s Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, claiming the sites were being used to plan attacks against civilians inside Afghanistan, TOLOnews reported.
The Taliban said the targeted locations were being used to coordinate sabotage operations and attacks against civilians in Afghanistan. It claimed the strikes were carried out with precision, causing heavy casualties and significant material losses to ISIS while resulting in no civilian casualties.
Sources told TOLOnews that a school in the Saranan area, which they alleged was being used by ISIS members and groups described as “agents of chaos and violence," was among the targets.
The Afghan Ministry of Defense also stressed that any location used to undermine Afghanistan’s security will be targeted. Warning Pakistan, it said: “We will target every location that poses a threat to our security."
The strikes came days after cross-border airstrikes by Pakistan along the Afghanistan border left dozens of civilians dead and injured. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said at least 28 civilians were killed and 49 others injured, warning that the toll could rise as hospitals continued treating the wounded.
