Afghanistan’s Taliban said on Monday that Pakistan carried out two air strikes in Afghan territory, killing five women and three children, with a spokesman condemning the strikes as a violation of sovereignty.
The strikes came as the neighbours have traded blame over responsibility for recent militant attacks in Pakistan, which says they were launched from Afghan soil, although Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban deny this.
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan does not allow anyone to compromise security by using Afghan territory,” Zabiullah Mujahid, the spokesman of the Taliban administration, said in a statement.
The strikes killed five women and three children in the eastern border provinces of Khost and Paktika, he added.
Pakistan’s army and foreign office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strikes, which come after unknown militants attacked a military post in Pakistan on Saturday, killing seven security forces.
Though it was not immediately clear what prompted that attack, Pakistan government and security officials say such attacks have risen in recent months, many of them claimed by the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) and launched from Afghan soil.
The Afghan Taliban have denied allowing Afghan territory to be used by militants.
“Pakistan shouldn’t blame Afghanistan for the lack of control, incompetence, and problems in its own territory,” Mujahid, the spokesman, said in the statement.
“Such incidents can have very bad consequences which will not be in Pakistan’s control.”