Pakistan Airstrikes Kill 9 Children in Afghanistan After Peshawar Suicide Attack

Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan escalated sharply on Tuesday after Pakistani airstrikes in Afghan territory killed 10 civilians, including nine children and a woman. The strikes came just a day after a suicide bombing at a paramilitary headquarters in Peshawar left three security personnel dead.

According to Taliban officials, the attack occurred around midnight in Gurbuz district of Khost province, where Pakistani aircraft allegedly targeted the home of a civilian, Waliat Khan.
Nine children—five boys and four girls—and one woman were killed. Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said additional strikes hit Kunar and Paktika, injuring four more civilians.

“The Pakistani invading forces bombed the house of a local civilian resident… Air strikes targeting the border regions of Kunar and Paktika wounded another four civilians,” Mujahid said on X.

Pakistan has not issued a statement on the latest strikes but has previously defended such operations as counter-terror measures aimed at eliminating Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) hideouts. Islamabad blames the TTP for a surge in suicide bombings, including the Peshawar attack.

Peshawar Attack Sparks New Tensions

Monday’s attack on Pakistan’s paramilitary Frontier Corps headquarters in Peshawar involved suicide bombers and gunmen.

• One bomber detonated at the entrance.

• Two gunmen were killed inside the compound.
  The assault was claimed by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), a faction aligned with the TTP. Pakistan labelled it a “foiled terrorist plot.”

The incident followed a suicide bombing in Islamabad two weeks earlier that killed 12, further straining an already fragile security landscape.

Ceasefire Crumbling

Relations between Pakistan and the Taliban government in Kabul have deteriorated sharply over the past year. Pakistan accuses the Taliban of providing refuge to TTP militants—an allegation the Taliban denies.

Earlier this month, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khwaja Asif warned that Islamabad could enter an “open war” with Afghanistan if peace negotiations collapsed.
Border clashes in October killed hundreds, and although a ceasefire was announced, hostilities have continued.

A New Flashpoint in the Region

The latest strikes deepen fears of a widening conflict between the neighbours. Analysts warn that repeated cross-border attacks could destabilise an already volatile region, complicating counterterrorism efforts and provoking retaliatory actions from both sides.