Pakistan attacks Afghan base after its president warned that the “red line” was crossed | Conflict news

Islamabad attacks Kandahar facilities after Taliban drones attack civilian areas and military sites as conflict escalates.

Pakistan carried out strikes on an Afghan military facility in Kandahar after Taliban drones attacked civilian areas and military installations across the country.

Saturday’s attacks came after Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the nighttime drone strikes and warned Kabul that it had “crossed a red line by attempting to attack our civilians.”

Pakistan’s military said the drones, described as crude and locally produced, were intercepted before reaching their targets, although falling debris injured two children in Quetta and civilians in Kohat and Rawalpindi.

A security source told the AFP news agency that the airspace around the capital Islamabad had been temporarily closed when the drones were detected.

Islamabad said the Kandahar facilities had been used both to launch drone attacks and as a base for cross-border rebel activities.

The exchange marks the sharpest escalation yet in a conflict that has been brewing since late February, when Pakistan launched military operations against what it said were Pakistani Taliban fighters holed up on Afghan soil.

Islamabad also accuses Kabul of harboring fighters from the ISIL group’s (ISIS) affiliate in Khorasan province.

The Taliban government has denied both charges.

The drone strikes followed Pakistani attacks on Kabul and Afghanistan’s eastern border provinces overnight from Thursday to Friday. Pakistani strikes killed four people in the capital, including women and children, and two more in the east.

In the Pul-e-Charkhi neighborhood of Kabul, one resident described being buried under rubble after his house was hit, and said he lay there believing it was his “last breath” before neighbors freed him.

A local representative told AFP that those killed were “ordinary people, poor people” who were not involved in the conflict.

Pakistani jets also attacked a fuel depot belonging to the private airline Kam Air near Kandahar airport, which an airport official said supplied aid organizations including the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The official added that “there were no military installations” at the site.

Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry claimed its forces had captured a Pakistani border post and killed 14 soldiers.

Islamabad dismissed the claim as unfounded, with the prime minister’s spokesman accusing the Taliban of “weaving fantasies” instead of dismantling rebel networks on Afghan soil.

The U.N. mission in Afghanistan says at least 75 civilians have been killed and 193 wounded since hostilities escalated on Feb. 26, including 24 children.

According to the UN refugee agency, some 115,000 people have been forced to leave their homes.

The crisis unfolds as the broader region remains mired in the US-Israel war against Iran, which began just two days after clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan intensified.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has urged both sides to continue dialogue, warning that greater force would only deepen the crisis, although his call came as Pakistani planes were already flying over Kandahar.