AFGHANISTAN CARRIES OUT RETALIATORY ATTACK AGAINST PAKISTAN

Sat 28 December 2024:

The Ministry of National Defense said on Saturday it has attacked “centers and hideouts of evil elements and their supporters” across the Durand Line, locla media reported.

“Several points across the hypothetical line including centers and hideouts of evil elements and their supporters from where attacks were organized in Afghanistan were attacked in revenge from the southeast of the country,” the ministry said in a statement.

Meanwhile, sources said that retaliatory attacks across the Durand Line began last night from Alisher district of Khost province and Dand Patan district of Paktia province and continued until morning.

According to sources, light and heavy weapons were used in the clashes.

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The statement from the Defence Ministry did not specify Pakistan but said the strikes were conducted “beyond the ‘hypothetical line'” – an expression used by Afghan authorities to refer to a border with Pakistan that they have long disputed.

“Several points beyond the hypothetical line, serving as centres and hideouts for malicious elements and their supporters who organised and coordinated attacks in Afghanistan, were targeted in retaliation from the southeastern direction of the country,” the ministry said.

Asked whether the statement referred to Pakistan, ministry spokesman Enayatullah Khowarazmi said: “We do not consider it to be the territory of Pakistan, therefore, we cannot confirm the territory, but it was on the other side of the hypothetical line.”

Afghanistan has for decades rejected the border, known as the Durand Line, drawn by British colonial authorities in the 19th century through the mountainous and often lawless tribal belt between what is now Afghanistan and Pakistan.

PAKISTANI BOMBING INSIDE AFGHANISTAN KILLED 46, SAYS TALIBAN ADMINISTRATION

No details of casualties or specific areas targeted were provided. The Pakistani military’s public relations wing and a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Afghan authorities warned on Wednesday they would retaliate after the Pakistani bombardment, which they said had killed civilians. Islamabad said it had targeted hideouts of Islamist militants along the border.

The neighbours have a strained relationship, with Pakistan saying that several militant attacks that have occurred in its country have been launched from Afghan soil – a charge the Afghan Taliban denies.

Earlier, Pakistan launched airstrikes in Paktika’s Barmal district on Tuesday, killing more than 40 and wounding dozens of people.

The Ministry of National Defense of Afghanistan had warned that the attacks would not go unanswered.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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