At least 28 civilians were killed and 49 injured in airstrikes carried out by Pakistan on its border with Afghanistan, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said on Monday, Reuters reports.
Pakistan's security forces said they had killed at least 29 militants in ground and air operations along the Afghanistan border, while the Afghan Taliban said at least 38 civilians had been killed in airstrikes.
UNAMA said that the number of casualties could rise as hospitals continue to treat the injured.
Sunday's aerial assault was Pakistan's second on targets in Afghanistan that it said belonged to militants, and threatened to exacerbate an intermittent conflict between the former allies, who fought their worst battle in years in February.
Pakistan's airstrikes on three targets in the Afghan provinces of Paktia, Paktika and Kunar killed 25 militants while destroying "large quantities" of weapons and ammunition, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on X on Monday.
Four more fighters linked to the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar faction of Pakistan's Taliban were killed in ground attacks in the Bajaur district of the northern Pakistani border province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Pakistani Taliban, known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, confirmed the killing on Sunday of one of its commanders, Khan Ferosh aka Zabul, in the operation in Bajaur.
Islamabad accuses Kabul of harbouring militants it blames for plotting attacks in Pakistan. The Afghan Taliban denies the accusations, saying militancy is Pakistan's internal problem.
