Afghanistan says three killed in Pakistani air attacks

At least three people have been killed in northeastern Afghanistan in Pakistani air raids, Afghan officials said.

Kunar provincial spokesperson Farid Dehqan told Al Jazeera that the air attack hit the Nurgal district at about 4am local time on Monday (23:30 GMT Sunday), killing three people and injuring four.

⁠Pakistan’s information ministry ⁠said that 28 “terrorists” were killed in ⁠air strikes on three ⁠targets ⁠in Afghanistan.

Taliban deputy spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said at least one house in Kunar, a mountainous province in northeastern Afghanistan, was hit in the attacks, killing three members of the same family and injuring four others

“In the Barmal district of Paktika province, two locations were bombarded, destroying one shop and one unoccupied house, with no casualties reported,” he said.

The attacks threaten to reignite tensions between the neighbours after nearly three months of relative calm.

Relations between the former allies have been strained since February, when the two sides fought their worst clashes in years.

The dispute centres on violence in Pakistan, with Islamabad accusing Kabul of harbouring armed groups that stage cross-border attacks from Afghan territory.

Afghanistan’s Taliban government denies the charges and says the violence is Pakistan’s internal problem.

The air raids on Monday come days after a Pakistan Taliban faction said it carried out a bombing attack on a mosque at a police facility in Kohat, northwestern Pakistan. The blast and subsequent gun battle killed at least 21 people, mostly police officers, Pakistani officials said.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Information warned Saturday that the country could hit fighters inside Afghanistan in response to attacks in Pakistan. The ministry blamed the Kohat attack on fighters it said were based in Afghanistan.