At least 10 people have died in Pakistan’s air attacks inside Afghanistan, according to Afghan officials, breaking a ceasefire that had brought two days of affluent period of relative calm to the border.
Nearly a week of bloody border clashes that left dozens of soldiers and civilians dead on both sides were put on hold as a result of the 48-hour truce.
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A senior Taliban official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, reported to the AFP news agency that Pakistan had violated the ceasefire and bombed three locations in Paktika province late on Friday. “Afghanistan will retaliate.”
A provincial hospital official who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity said that two children were among the dead and that 12 others had been hurt in the attacks.
An Afghan government spokesman said Afghan government representatives would hold peace talks in Doha on Saturday following the attacks.
According to a statement from Zabihullah Mujahid, “as promised, negotiations with the Pakistani side will take place today in Doha.”
Mullah Muhammad Yaqoob, the minister of defense, led a high-ranking Afghan delegation that has since left for Doha, he claimed.
Meanwhile, General Asim Malik, the intelligence chief, and Defense Minister Khawaja Asif are scheduled to visit Doha on Saturday for talks with the Afghan Taliban, according to Pakistani state TV.
The Afghanistan Cricket Board announced earlier on Saturday that five other people were killed in the most recent air strikes, along with five others, in a “cowardly attack carried out by the Pakistani regime,” and that seven others were hurt.
When the cricketers returned home after playing a friendly cricket match in Sharana, the capital of Paktika province, the ACB claimed in a post on social media on Saturday that they were “targeted during a gathering.”
The ACB said, “This is a terrible loss for Afghanistan’s sports community, its athletes, and the cricketing family.”
Additionally, it stated that it would not participate in the upcoming Tri-Nation T20I Series involving Pakistan, which is scheduled for the following month.
A senior security official in Pakistan claimed that Afghani forces had “conducted precision aerial strikes” on the Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group, a local rival of the Pakistan Taliban (TTP), in Pakistan.
Seven Pakistani paramilitary troops were killed in a suicide bombing and gun attack at a military camp in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas district, according to Islamabad, which the same organization had been a part of.
The tensions are fueled by security concerns, which Kabul refutes by accusing Afghanistan of house armed groups led by the Pakistan Taliban, known as TTP, on its soil.
The Taliban’s foreign minister made an unprecedented visit to India, Pakistan’s long-distance rival, just as the violence had escalated dramatically since last Saturday, days after explosions rocked the Afghan capital, Kabul.
The Taliban then launched an offensive along Pakistan’s southern border, prompting Islamabad to declare that it would launch a strong own response.
Islamabad stated the ceasefire would last 48 hours when it first broke out at 13:00 GMT on Wednesday, but Kabul claimed it would continue until Pakistan violated it.
On the Afghan side of the border, according to the United Nations Assistance Mission, 37 people were killed and 425 were hurt, urging both parties to put an end to hostilities.
On Thursday, hundreds of people in Spin Boldak, the site of bloody battles, paid tribute to the victims of the brutal fighting.
Nematullah, 42, told AFP that “people have varying feelings.” They worry that the conflict will return, but they continue to live in their homes and conduct business.
However, residents earlier on Friday described normalcy scenes.
Nani, a 35-year-old woman, told AFP, “Everything is fine, everything is open.”
Source: Aljazeera
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