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Pakistan Launches Border Strikes After Karachi Attack
Pakistani forces conducted a ground operation and airstrikes along the Afghanistan border, killing 29 militants according to officials. Afghanistan's Taliban government reported 36 civilian deaths and more than 150 wounded in the same strikes.
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Pakistani security forces carried out a ground operation along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border Sunday, followed by calibrated strikes against militant hideouts, killing 29 fighters, officials said. The operation targeted hideouts of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and Fitna al-Khwarij, a term Pakistan uses for the Pakistani Taliban, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said in a post on X.
Background to the strikes The strikes came a day after militants attacked the regional headquarters of Pakistan's paramilitary Rangers in Karachi, killing three soldiers. Security forces killed three attackers and arrested another, whom the military identified as an Afghan national.
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for the Karachi attack in a statement Saturday night. Pakistan has conducted multiple strikes along the border and inside Afghanistan since last year, targeting alleged hideouts of the Pakistani Taliban and allied groups.
Afghan response Afghanistan's Taliban regime said Monday that 36 civilians, including women and children, were killed in the strikes and more than 150 others were wounded across Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces. Deputy Taliban spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat posted graphic photos on social media showing children, including an infant, purportedly wounded in the strikes receiving medical care.
Chief Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told CBS News the figures provided by his deputy were correct, but CBS News could not independently verify the claims from the Pakistani or Afghan officials. >"In Mandukhel village, part of Chamanai district in Paktia province, Pakistani fighter jets bombed a civilian home, resulting in the martyrdom of an elderly sheikh and a child, and the injury of the rest of the family members.
" — Deputy Taliban spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat, June 29, 2026 (X post) An eyewitness in Mandukhel told CBS News the house struck belonged to a local resident and was about 800 yards from his own home. He said the house was engulfed in flames after being hit near midnight, and a second bomb struck as people ran to help.
