(Al Jazeera Media Network) Pakistan’s military early on Sunday carried out air raids in Afghanistan, targeting what it called “camps and hideouts” belonging to armed groups behind a spate of recent attacks, including a deadly suicide bombing at a Shia mosque in Islamabad.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said in a statement on X on Sunday that the country’s military conducted “intelligence-based, selective operations” against seven camps and hideouts belonging to the Pakistan Taliban, also known by the acronym TTP, and its affiliates.
The ISIL (ISIS) affiliate in Khorasan Province, or ISKP, which claimed responsibility for a suicide attack in the capital earlier this month, was also targeted in the operation, the ministry said.
The Pakistani ministry said it had “conclusive evidence” that recent attacks in Islamabad, as well as in the northwestern Bajaur and Bannu districts, were perpetrated by fighters at the “behest of their Afghanistan-based leadership and handlers”.
The Afghan Ministry of Defence condemned the attacks that “hit a religious school and residential homes” in the border provinces of Nangarhar and Paktika, “resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries, including women and children”.
The Defence Ministry condemned the attacks as “a breach of international law and the principles of good neighbourliness”, and promised to respond.
“We hold the Pakistani military responsible for targeting civilians and religious sites. We will respond to these attacks in due course with a measured and appropriate response,” it said.
