At least seven people were killed and more than 80 wounded after mortars and missiles fired from Pakistan struck a university and civilian homes in northeastern Afghanistan on Monday, Afghan officials said, in the first major violence since recent China-mediated talks.
Pakistan and Afghanistan had been embroiled in months of deadly fighting that had killed hundreds of people since late February, when Afghanistan launched a cross-border attack on Pakistan in retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghanistan. Islamabad had declared it was in open war with Afghanistan, in an escalation of violence that alarmed the international community.
Pakistan's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting dismissed Afghan media reports and official statements about the strikes on the university as "a blatant lie."
Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of harboring militants that carry out deadly attacks inside Pakistan, especially the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP. The group is separate from, but allied with, the Afghan Taliban, which took over Afghanistan in 2021 following the chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led troops. Kabul denies the charge.
Afghan and Pakistani officials met in Urumqi in western China in early April, and had agreed not to escalate their conflict and "explore a comprehensive solution," China's government had said after mediating the talks.
