KABUL/ISLAMABAD – Pakistani and Afghan troops clashed at multiple points along their expansive border on Tuesday as the United Nations mission for Afghanistan warned that 42 civilians in the country had been killed so far in the six-day conflict.
The South Asian allies-turned-foes have engaged in their worst fighting in years following Pakistani air strikes on major Afghan cities last week, raising fears of another protracted conflict in a region also contending with US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
Islamabad has launched air-to-ground missiles at Taliban military sites over the last week, and even directly targeted the Taliban government in unprecedented, sustained strikes over allegations it harbours militants executing attacks on Pakistan from its soil. The Taliban has denied aiding militant groups.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Tuesday that successful air strikes were conducted on the Bagram air base north of Kabul, which served as a key American command centre through the 20-year Afghan war.
“We had intelligence that there was ammunition and critical equipment being used by terrorists to fight the Pakistan army along the border as well as by Afghan Taliban troops,” Tarar told Reuters in the first official Pakistani acknowledgement of the strikes.
Afghan police had said on Sunday that the attack on Bagram was repelled by anti-aircraft guns.
A senior Pakistani security source said the air strikes would continue until Afghanistan took concrete steps to deal with militants using its territory.
If such steps were not taken, Pakistan could target the Taliban’s top leadership, the source said. (Reuters)
