KABUL, Oct. 1 (Zark News) — The United Nations mission in Afghanistan says it has independently verified at least 10 civilian deaths, most of them children, and nine injuries following Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan, adding independent confirmation to reports of civilian casualties as tensions between the neighboring countries escalate.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said the casualties resulted from Pakistani military airstrikes. The verified toll differs from an earlier account from Afghanistan’s Taliban government, which said nine women and children were killed and 11 civilians wounded.
Pakistan has given a different account of the operation. Pakistan’s Ministry of Information said the strikes were “well planned and calibrated” against militant hideouts and camps and said initial reports indicated 22 militants were killed along with weapons and ammunition. Zark News has not independently verified Pakistan’s militant casualty figure.
The strikes follow a militant attack on a police facility in northwestern Pakistan last month that killed 24 people and renewed tensions between the two countries. Islamabad says militants operating from Afghan territory have carried out attacks inside Pakistan. Afghanistan denies harboring militants and has condemned Pakistani strikes on its territory.
The latest violence follows months of cross-border tensions and earlier clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The competing accounts of the targets and casualties remain politically sensitive, but UNAMA’s independently verified civilian toll provides new evidence about the human impact of the latest strikes.
What changed
Earlier reports relied primarily on casualty figures supplied by Afghan and Pakistani authorities. UNAMA has now independently verified at least 10 civilian deaths and nine injuries, making the civilian toll a material new development in the story.
Sources: United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA); Associated Press; Reuters; Pakistan Ministry of Information statements reported by international news agencies.