ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan said Sunday it carried out overnight strikes on militant hideouts in Afghanistan’s Kandahar region as fighting that erupted between the two neighbors late last month showed no signs of abating.
The cross-border fighting, which includes Pakistani air strikes on the Afghan capital Kabul, is the deadliest yet between the two South Asian countries. Islamabad has called the conflict an “open war,” fueling concerns about regional stability as a U.S.-Israeli war with Iran engulfs the Middle East and beyond.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Atala Talal posted on X that the military hit equipment storage facilities and “technical support infrastructure” in overnight raids in Kandahar.
Afghan government spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said Pakistan struck two locations: one used by security personnel during the day but empty at night; and another, a drug rehabilitation center, which suffered minor damage. He said there were no casualties but the attack showed Pakistan “continues its incursions and fuels the war.”
Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry said it carried out an attack on a Pakistani army camp in Pakistan’s South Waziristan region on Sunday in retaliation for the attack in Kandahar. The attack allegedly destroyed most of the camp’s command center and other facilities, causing heavy casualties to the Pakistani army.
Pakistan’s Information Ministry denied the claims, calling them “propaganda,” saying a small drone was shot down and “no military installations or infrastructure was attacked.”
Afghanistan also said it carried out operations inside Pakistan on the border with Kunar and Nangarhar provinces, claiming it had captured a Pakistani military post and killed several soldiers. Pakistan has also denied these claims.
Pakistan accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers of harboring militant groups, particularly the Pakistani Taliban, which carries out attacks in Pakistan. Afghanistan denies the accusation and insists it will not allow its territory to be used against other countries.
The latest fighting erupted in late February, when Afghanistan launched cross-border attacks against Pakistan in retaliation for Pakistani air strikes inside Afghanistan days earlier that it said had killed only civilians. The conflict upended a ceasefire brokered by Qatar in October and left dozens of soldiers, civilians and suspected militants dead.
A mortar fired from Afghanistan destroyed a house in Pakistan’s northwest Bajaur district on Sunday, killing the last four members of the same family and wounding two others, local government official Adnan Khan said.
Both sides accuse the other of targeting civilians, killing dozens.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said on Saturday that the Afghan government had “crossed a red line” by launching drone strikes on civilian areas in Pakistan, hours after it reportedly carried out attacks on Afghan drone storage facilities.
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Abdul Kahal Afghan reported from Kabul, Afghanistan. Associated Press writer Elena Bekatoros in Athens, Greece, contributed to this report.