Several suspected suicide drones were reported over multiple major cities in Pakistan on Friday, hours after the Pakistan Air Force carried out overnight airstrikes in Afghanistan.
According to reports, drones were sighted over the capital Islamabad, as well as Rawalpindi, Kohat and Quetta, following Pakistani strikes in Afghanistan’s Kabul, Kandahar and Paktika Province.
Afghan government-linked outlet Al‑Mersaad claimed that drones launched by the Afghan Taliban reached the Hamza military camp of the Pakistan Army in the Faizabad area of Islamabad.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister’s Coordinator, Musharraf Zaidi, said that airspace over the capital had been reopened after being closed for nearly an hour during the reported drone activity. However, an official from the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority said they had no knowledge of any airspace closure.
Pakistani authorities stated that two suspected suicide drones were shot down over Islamabad using fighter jets.
Meanwhile, Türkiye based Pakistani journalist Mubashir Zaidi, citing security sources, wrote on the social media platform X that a drone launched by the Afghan Taliban struck a Pakistani military camp in Rawalpindi but failed to explode. Another drone reportedly exploded in Islamabad’s I-8 sector.
Separately, drones described as “Kamikaze” drones by Afghan Taliban sources were also reportedly sighted over Khyber District, Rasalpur and Taxila. Earlier in the day, around three drones reportedly crashed in Kohat district and two in Quetta, according to local reports.
on Friday, Afghanistan-based broadcaster TOLOnews, citing the Ministry of Defence of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, reported that Afghan forces had targeted what it described as strategic Pakistani military facilities in Kohat in response to “last night’s attacks by Pakistan’s military regime”.
According to the ministry, a military fortress in Kohat was struck during the attacks. It added that a war command centre located about two kilometres from the fortress, along the disputed Durand Line, as well as the office of the fortress commander, were also targeted.
The Afghan defence ministry further claimed that military facilities, command centres, depots and soldiers’ residential quarters at the site were destroyed, resulting in heavy human and material losses. These claims have not been verified by Pakistani Authorities yet.
Tensions had already been escalating between the two sides. Earlier, Afghanistan’s defence minister warned that while Kabul did not seek war, Islamabad would be targeted if Pakistani forces carried out attacks on the Afghan capital.