ISLAMABAD: Four Pakistani civilians were killed by a mortar shell as Afghan Taliban forces targeted civilian populations in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, a security official said on Sunday, amid ongoing clashes between the neighbors.
The cross-border strikes and clashes, which erupted late last month, have shown no signs of abating despite efforts by China, Turkiye and other countries to broker a ceasefire.
A security official, who requested anonymity, said on Sunday that mortar shells fired from Afghanistan landed in Salarzai tehsil and surrounding localities in KP’s Bajaur district.
“One mortar shell struck a residential house,” the official said. “As a result of the explosion, four people inside the house were martyred on the spot. All four victims were brothers.”
The conflict began when Afghan forces targeted Pakistan border posts on Feb. 26 in response to Islamabad’s earlier air strikes on what it said were Pakistani Taliban and Daesh camps inside Afghanistan.
