Pakistan’s air force struck fuel storage facilities belonging to a private airline close to Kandahar Airport, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid alleged on Friday.
The claim comes as tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan continue to rise along the disputed Durand Line, with both sides accusing each other of cross-border attacks in recent weeks.
Mujahid wrote on X that the targeted depots belong to Kam Air. According to him, the company supplies aviation fuel not only to domestic airlines but also to aircraft operated by the United Nations. He also alleged that Pakistan had earlier hit fuel reserves owned by an Afghan trader named Haji Khan Zadah.
Shelling in Khost leaves family dead
Separately, Pakistan’s military reportedly fired artillery at several areas in the Alisher-Terezai district of Khost province near the Durand Line, TOLO News reported.
The shelling killed four members of a single family and injured three others.
Border clashes intensify
The reported attacks come against the backdrop of rising hostilities between the two neighbours.
In February, Pakistan carried out airstrikes targeting Kabul and other Afghan cities. Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif described the situation as an “open war,” saying Islamabad’s patience had run out. He accused the Taliban government of allowing militant groups to operate from Afghan territory.
Afghanistan’s Ministry of National Defence later said that 55 Pakistani soldiers were killed in retaliatory fighting along the Durand Line on February 26.
Relations between Islamabad and Kabul have stayed tense ever since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan again in 2021. The dispute over the Durand Line, the border drawn during British colonial rule, has long been a source of friction.
Pakistan has repeatedly urged the Taliban authorities to act against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which Islamabad says is using Afghan soil as a base. The group emerged in Pakistan in 2007. Though separate from the Afghan Taliban, it is widely seen as sharing ideological and historical links with it.
Attacks inside Pakistan by the TTP and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) have increased in recent years. The provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, both bordering Afghanistan, have witnessed the worst of this violence.
India has strongly criticised Pakistan’s strikes inside Afghanistan, pointing to reports of civilian casualties, including women and children, during the holy month of Ramadan. New Delhi also reiterated its support for Afghanistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.