Kabul, Feb 24 (IANS) At least 13 people, including women and children, were killed in Pakistan’s airstrikes on Afghanistan’s Nangarhar and Paktika, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said, local media reported on Tuesday.
UNAMA stated that 13 people were killed and seven others were injured in Pakistan’s airstrikes in Bahsud and Khogiani districts of Nangarhar on February 21–22 from 11:15 p.m. to 1:45 a.m., Afghanistan’s leading news agency Khaama Press reported.
A school and a mosque were hit in two attacks targeting Paktita’s Barmal district, while a house was destroyed in Orgun district of Paktita.
UNAMA condemned Pakistan’s airstrikes and urged all parties to immediately stop hostilities and follow international humanitarian law so that civilians are not harmed. It demanded transparent investigations and accountability and emphasised the need for protective measures for people in conflict-hit regions.
Tensions have increased between Pakistan and Afghanistan in recent months. UNAMA has repeatedly stressed the need to protect people amid increasing airstrikes.
On February 22, Afghanistan’s Ministry of National Defence accused the Pakistani military regime of carrying out deadly airstrikes in various residential areas of the Nangarhar and Paktika provinces, resulting in the death of several civilians.
According to the Ministry, the strikes targeted a madrasa and multiple residential homes, killing and injuring “dozens of civilians”, including women and children.
The violation of Afghan airspace comes amid what Kabul describes as repeated acts of Pakistani aggression.
Condemning the attack in the strongest possible terms, the Afghan Ministry called it a blatant violation of Afghanistan’s national sovereignty and a clear breach of “international law, the principles of good neighbourliness, and Islamic values”.
Afghanistan’s Ministry of National Defence affirmed that safeguarding the country’s sovereignty and the security of its people are both its “religious obligations and national duties”, while warning that “an appropriate and measured response will be taken at a suitable time”.
“Attacks against civilian populations and religious institutions stand as undeniable evidence of the intelligence and security failures of the Pakistani military, and such repeated acts of aggression will never be able to conceal their internal shortcomings,” the Ministry said.
–IANS
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