Pakistani Bombardment in Afghanistan Kills 46, Taliban Says

The attack targeted four locations in Afghanistan, injuring six others, said Hamdullah Fitrat, a deputy spokesperson for the Taliban, on Wednesday.

Pakistani government and military officials have not yet commented on the incident.

Enayatullah Khowrazmi, spokesperson for Afghanistan’s Ministry of National Defense, condemned the bombing as a “blatant violation of international principles and an act of aggression,” adding that the Taliban would respond to the attack.

A Pakistani official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed airstrikes against a camp of the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) in Afghanistan, which operates under the same name as the Afghan Taliban but is not part of the ruling government. The TTP seeks to impose Islamic law in Pakistan, similar to the Afghan Taliban's agenda.

The airstrikes followed a deadly TTP attack in Pakistan's South Waziristan on Saturday, which killed 16 Pakistani security personnel.

Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry identified many of the victims as "mostly Waziristani refugees," suggesting they were from Pakistan's Waziristan region.

Tensions between the two countries have been rising. Pakistan claims that several TTP attacks on its soil have been launched from Afghanistan, a charge the Afghan Taliban denies. Relations further soured in March when the Taliban accused Pakistan of carrying out airstrikes in Afghanistan that killed five women and children. Pakistan later acknowledged "intelligence-based anti-terrorist operations" in Afghanistan but did not provide specifics.