Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government said on Thursday that four members of a single family, including two children, were killed in Pakistani artillery and mortar fire in the eastern province of Khost.
Deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said the deaths took place early on Thursday in the village of Sadqo, accusing Pakistan of deliberately targeting civilian homes and nomads’ tents.
“Four members of a nomad family, including one woman and one man, as well as two children – one girl and one boy – were killed and three other children were wounded,” he wrote on X.
The provincial governor’s office confirmed the same toll.
Pakistan has consistently denied targeting civilians, and casualty claims from both sides remain difficult to verify independently.
In Islamabad, Foreign Ministry spokesman Tahir Hussain Andrabi said Pakistan had carried out “targeted operations with due diligence”, adding that strict checks were in place to ensure civilians were not harmed.
The latest incident follows earlier reports of civilian casualties. On Tuesday, Fitrat said three civilians were killed by Pakistani shelling in the border province of Paktia. Medical sources gave the same toll to the AFP news agency.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said 56 civilians had been killed there, including 24 children, by Pakistani military operations between 26 February and 5 March, adding that about 115,000 people had been forced to leave their homes.