(AP photo)
NEW DELHI: India on Sunday strongly condemned Pakistan’s overnight airstrikes on neighbouring Afghanistan during the holy month of Ramadan. The strikes reportedly targeted alleged terror hideouts that Islamabad has blamed for recent suicide bombings in Pakistan.In an official statement, the ministry of external affairs highlighted the casualties of women and children in the attack. “In response to media queries about Pakistan’s airstrikes on Afghanistan, Official Spokesperson Shri Randhir Jaiswal said: India strongly condemns Pakistan’s airstrikes on Afghan territory that have resulted in civilian casualties, including women and children, during the holy month of Ramadan.”
Meanwhile, Kabul has repeatedly denied allegations that armed groups are using Afghan territory to launch attacks against Pakistan.Afghanistan’s ministry of defence said on Sunday that “dozens of innocent civilians, including women and children, were martyred and wounded” after airstrikes hit a school and residential homes in the eastern provinces of Nangarhar and Paktika.Pakistan said it killed 70 terrorists in military strikes targeting at least seven militant hideouts inside Afghanistan, describing the action as retaliation for recent rebel attacks in the country. “Afghanistan has long been exporting terrorism. Pakistan is taking all actions to secure the life and property of its citizens,” Pakistan’s State Minister for Interior, Talal Chaudhry, said while speaking on Geo News.Earlier, Pakistan’s ministry of information and broadcasting confirmed that the strikes were carried out in response to recent suicide bombings in Islamabad, Bajaur and Bannu. Kabul, however, warned that it would deliver a “necessary and measured response” to the attacks.In the latest incident, an army lieutenant colonel and a soldier were killed in a suicide bombing in the Bannu area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday.According to a statement from Pakistan’s ministry of information and broadcasting, the government has conclusive evidence that the recent terrorist attacks, including one at a Shiite mosque in Islamabad, as well as attacks in Bajaur and Bannu, followed by another incident in Bannu on Saturday, were allegedly carried out by Khwarij militants acting on the direction of their Afghanistan-based leadership and handlers.The ministry said responsibility for the attacks was claimed by Afghanistan-based Pakistani Taliban belonging to Fitna-al-Khwarij (FAK) and its affiliates, as well as the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP).Fitna-al-Khwarij is a term used by the Pakistani state to refer to the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
