Islamabad hits Kandahar facility after Taliban drones strike civilian areas and army websites as battle intensifies.
Printed On 14 Mar 2026
Pakistan has carried out strikes on an Afghan army facility in Kandahar after Taliban drones focused civilian areas and army installations throughout the nation.
The strikes on Saturday got here after Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the in a single day drone assaults, warning Kabul it had “crossed a pink line by making an attempt to focus on our civilians”.
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Pakistan’s army mentioned the drones, described as regionally produced and rudimentary, had been intercepted earlier than reaching their targets, although falling particles wounded two kids in Quetta and civilians in Kohat and Rawalpindi.
A safety supply informed the AFP information company that airspace across the capital, Islamabad, had been quickly closed when the drones had been detected.
Islamabad mentioned the Kandahar facility had been used each to launch the drone assaults and as a base for cross-border insurgent exercise.
The change marks the sharpest single escalation but in a battle that has been constructing since late February, when Pakistan launched army operations in opposition to what it mentioned had been Pakistan Taliban fighters sheltering on Afghan soil.
Islamabad additionally accuses Kabul of harbouring fighters from the ISIL (ISIS) group’s Khorasan province affiliate.
The Taliban authorities has denied each expenses.
The drone assaults adopted Pakistani strikes on Kabul and jap border provinces in Afghanistan in a single day on Thursday into Friday. The Pakistani assaults killed 4 folks within the capital, ladies and youngsters amongst them, and two extra within the east.
Within the Pul-e-Charkhi neighbourhood of Kabul, one resident described being buried beneath rubble after his house was hit, saying he lay there believing it was his “final breath” earlier than neighbours pulled him free.
A neighborhood consultant informed AFP that these killed had been “atypical folks, poor folks” with no involvement within the battle.
Pakistani plane additionally struck a gas depot belonging to the non-public airline Kam Air close to Kandahar airport, which an airport official mentioned provided help organisations, together with the United Nations and the Worldwide Committee of the Pink Cross.
The official added that there have been “no army installations” on the web site.
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defence claimed that its forces had captured a Pakistani border publish and killed 14 troopers.
Islamabad dismissed the assertion as baseless, with the prime minister’s spokesman accusing the Taliban of “weaving fantasies” reasonably than dismantling insurgent networks on Afghan territory.
The UN mission in Afghanistan says at the very least 75 civilians have been killed and 193 injured since hostilities intensified on February 26, a toll that features 24 kids.
In keeping with the UN refugee company, about 115,000 folks have been pressured from their houses.
The disaster is unfolding as the broader area stays engulfed by the US-Israeli warfare with Iran, which started simply two days after the Pakistan-Afghanistan clashes escalated.
Chinese language Minister of Overseas Affairs Wang Yi has urged each side to pursue dialogue, warning that additional drive would solely deepen the disaster, although his enchantment got here as Pakistani jets had been already within the air over Kandahar.
