Pakistani Airstrikes Kill Nine in Afghan Border Provinces

Pakistani military airstrikes hit Afghanistan's Kunar and Helmand provinces overnight, killing nine people, including women and children, and wounding eleven others, Afghanistan's Taliban government said on October 1, 2026. Pakistan said the strikes targeted militant hideouts and killed 22 fighters, destroying stored weapons and ammunition.¹²⁴⁹

Strikes in Kunar and Helmand

According to Afghan officials, Pakistani warplanes struck the Chogam locality within Kunar's Shultan district as well as the Safar locality in Helmand's Garmser district. Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said nine Afghan civilians were killed, eleven were injured and three homes were destroyed. Separate reporting put the toll at four killed and six wounded in the Safar bombing and five killed and three wounded in the Chogan strike.⁸⁶⁵

One source reported that the UN has tracked an upward trend in civilian harm tied to fighting along the Afghan-Pakistani frontier, while another noted that cross-border violence has left over 1,100 Afghan civilians dead or wounded so far this year.⁵³

Competing accounts

Pakistan's Ministry of Information said its forces targeted camps storing weapons and ammunition and that maximum precautions were taken to avoid collateral damage. According to Pakistani officials, early assessments pointed to a death toll of 22 fighters from the strikes. Pakistan has repeatedly accused Afghanistan's Taliban authorities of allowing the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan to operate from Afghan territory.¹³

The Taliban government rejected Pakistan's description of the targets, saying the strikes hit civilian homes rather than militant sites, and Taliban officials described the attacks as a violation of Afghanistan's sovereignty. Kabul maintains that militancy inside Pakistan is Pakistan's internal problem. Neither side's casualty figures have been independently verified, according to one report.⁵⁴¹

Wider conflict

Pakistan declared itself in open war with Afghanistan in February, and a ceasefire brokered through Chinese mediation had been in place since March. The latest strikes follow what several reports described as roughly three months of relative calm. One account noted that previous Pakistani bombardments had already claimed three lives in Kunar and Paktika, and a further four civilians died in strikes on Kandahar, Paktia and Khost on September 24. Around the same time as the latest Afghan strikes, a distinct assault on a police building in Pakistan's north-western region left 24 dead.¹⁹⁶³

Reactions

Mujahid condemned the strikes, saying in a statement: "We condemn this act as an aggression and crime in violation of all accepted principles." He also alleged that Pakistan's attacks were intended to divert attention from internal political and economic problems and to avoid obligations under the Mecca Pact, a defence agreement signed by Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey on August 7. He warned that Afghanistan would respond to what he called Pakistani military actions.⁴⁶

Karzai condemned the Pakistani airstrikes on Kunar and Helmand, according to one report.⁸