Overview
- Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said strikes overnight hit Khost, with additional raids in Kunar and Paktika, killing nine children and a woman and injuring four people.
- Local Afghan officials described drones and aircraft in the raids, and images from Khost showed residents searching rubble and preparing graves, while Pakistan’s military offered no comment.
- The reported strikes followed a suicide blast at a Pakistani security forces headquarters, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif pledging the perpetrators would be found and punished.
- Pakistan’s state TV said the attackers were Afghan nationals, and a Pakistani minister cited a suspect claiming Afghan links as Islamabad alleged Afghan and Pakistani Taliban acted together.
- A fragile truce born of October clashes that killed about 70 people remains undefined as the 2,600-km border stays closed and mediation by Qatar and Turkey has yet to yield a durable accord.