Overview
- Pakistan said its air‑defence systems detected and intercepted eight drones launched from Afghanistan on Wednesday, shooting them down near Torkham and Kohat before they reached targets.
- Hours later on Thursday Pakistan carried out precision air and drone strikes on 10 locations in Kandahar, Paktia and Khost that Islamabad said were used to launch or store the drones.
- The Afghan Taliban denied launching the drones, reported civilian deaths from the strikes and vowed an “appropriate response,” producing conflicting accounts of responsibility and casualties.
- Casualty claims are disputed and hard to verify because independent access to border areas is limited; the UN mission and Afghan officials have previously reported civilian deaths in earlier Pakistani strikes.
- Regional mediators including China, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia face renewed strain as the exchanges prompt higher troop alert levels, risk cross‑border retaliation and deepen insecurity for civilians near the frontier.