KABUL (AFP) – At least five children and a woman were killed in an eastern Afghan province when Pakistani military forces fired rockets along the border in a pre-dawn assault Saturday, an official and a resident said.
Since the Taliban seized power last year in Afghanistan, border tensions between the neighbors have risen, with Pakistan alleging militant groups were carrying out attacks from Afghan soil.
The Taliban deny harboring Pakistani militants, but are also infuriated by a fence Islamabad is erecting along their 2,700-kilometer (1,600-mile) border known as the Durand line, which was drawn up in colonial times.
An Afghan government official and a resident in Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar province said Pakistani forces fired rockets early on Saturday that left six people dead.
“Five children and a woman were killed and a man wounded in Pakistani rocket attacks in Shelton district of Kunar,” provincial director of information Najibullah Hassan Abdaal told AFP.
Ehsanullah, a resident of Shelton district who goes by one name as many Afghans do, said the assault was carried out by Pakistani military aircraft. He confirmed the death toll.
A similar pre-dawn assault was also carried out in Afghanistan’s Khost province near the border, another Afghan government official said.
“Pakistani helicopters bombarded four villages near the Durand line in Khost province,” he said on condition of anonymity.
“Only civilian houses were targeted and there were casualties,” he added, but did not offer more details.
An Afghan tribal elder from Khost, Gul Markhan, confirmed the incident in Khost.
Pakistani military officials were not immediately available for comment, and Taliban government spokesmen in Kabul declined to comment when contacted by AFP.
Afghan foreign ministry said later Saturday it had summoned the Pakistani ambassador in Kabul after the latest incidents.