> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.theglobalvoice.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Four Civilians Killed as Pakistan Expands Strikes Inside Afghanistan - URL: https://www.theglobalvoice.com/four-civilians-killed-as-pakistan-expands-strikes-inside-afghanistan/ - Published: 2026-09-24T12:35:29.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-24T12:35:29.000Z - Description: Pakistan says it struck ten sites in Afghanistan after intercepting drones allegedly launched across the border. Kabul denies ordering the attack and says four civilians were killed, deepening a confrontation driven by militancy, disputed sovereignty and the Durand Line. - Author: TGV Desk - Tags: Afghanistan, Pakistan, conflict, geopolitics, Violence, The Day So Far, Top Stories, has-audio Pakistan has carried out air and drone strikes against ten locations inside Afghanistan, sharply escalating a confrontation that has already produced repeated cross-border attacks, civilian casualties and warnings of retaliation. The strikes hit locations in Kandahar, Paktia and Khost provinces early on Thursday. Pakistan said the sites had been used to launch and store drones that entered its airspace a day earlier. Afghan authorities said four civilians were killed. Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the operation was conducted in self-defence after air-defence systems intercepted eight drones allegedly launched from Afghanistan. He described the response as precise and proportionate, saying it was restricted to military targets connected to the attempted attacks. Afghanistan rejected that account. Taliban government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid denied that Afghan forces had launched drones into Pakistan and warned that the strikes would have consequences. The competing claims about the alleged drone incursion have not been independently verified. > Official footage released by Pakistan shows airstrikes inside Afghanistan targeting what it described as terrorist infrastructure, including drone launch sites, weapons storage facilities, and training compounds. [pic.twitter.com/V9orvCs0d1](https://t.co/V9orvCs0d1?ref=theglobalvoice.com) > > — Global Defense Insight (@Defense\_Talks) [September 24, 2026](https://x.com/Defense%5FTalks/status/2103099151278043487?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=theglobalvoice.com) Afghan officials confirmed that several areas in Khost were struck at about 3.30 am. Attacks were also reported in Kandahar city and near the 203rd Mansoori Corps compound in Paktia. Initial local accounts from Khost reported no casualties, but the Afghan government later placed the overall civilian death toll at four. The operation followed several days of intensifying violence. Pakistani officials accused Afghan forces of firing mortars and other heavy weapons at border posts after Pakistani troops blocked what they described as an attempted militant infiltration. Pakistan said it responded by targeting Afghan border positions and artillery sites. Two days before the latest strikes, Pakistan bombed three locations in [Kunar and Paktika provinces](https://www.theglobalvoice.com/pakistan-strikes-afghanistans-kunar-killing-at-least-three-as-tensions-rise/). Islamabad claimed that operation killed 28 militants and suicide bombers. Afghan authorities said three members of one family a man, a woman and a girl were killed in Kunar, a civilian toll subsequently confirmed by the United Nations mission in Afghanistan. Those strikes came [after a major attack on a police complex in Kohat](https://www.theglobalvoice.com/deadly-car-bomb-and-gun-attack-hits-police-complex-in-northwest-pakistan/), in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. A vehicle bomb exploded near a mosque before armed men entered the compound, beginning a prolonged gun battle. At least 21 people were killed, most of them police officers. Six Pakistani soldiers were also killed in a separate clash in neighbouring Hangu. --- Pakistan accuses the Taliban government of sheltering Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and allied organisations that conduct attacks across the border. Kabul denies providing sanctuary to the groups and argues that Pakistan’s militant violence is an internal security problem. The dispute has transformed relations between two governments that were once considered close. Pakistan supported the Afghan Taliban during much of its insurgency, but the Taliban’s return to power in 2021 was followed by a sharp rise in militant attacks inside Pakistan. The conflict is further complicated by the [Durand Line](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand%5FLine?ref=theglobalvoice.com), the roughly 2,600-kilometre frontier drawn by British India and Afghanistan in 1893\. Pakistan treats it as the recognised international border, while successive Afghan governments have refused formally to accept it. The line divides Pashtun tribal communities whose family, commercial and political connections extend across both sides. The latest strikes therefore concern more than the alleged launch of eight drones. They reflect a wider struggle over militant sanctuaries, border sovereignty and an inherited frontier that Afghanistan has contested for generations. China, Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have attempted to mediate between the two countries. The expanding cycle of drone attacks, airstrikes and artillery exchanges now threatens those efforts and increases the danger that localised confrontations will develop into a broader conflict.