Pakistan Strikes Afghanistan's Khost; Kills 10 Including 9 Children, Claims Taliban

Updated: Tuesday, November 25, 2025, 9:20 [IST]

At least ten civilians, including nine children, were killed early Tuesday when Pakistani forces carried out an airstrike on a residential area in Afghanistan's Khost province, according to Afghan officials, the IANS reported.

The attack struck shortly after midnight in the Mughalgai area of Gurbuz district, targeting the home of a local resident, Waliat Khan. Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman for Afghanistan's caretaker government, said in a statement on X that the strike destroyed Khan's house and killed nine children - five boys and four girls-along with one woman.

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Pakistani forces conducted an airstrike on a residential area in Afghanistan's Khost province early Tuesday, killing at least ten civilians, including nine children; airstrikes were also conducted in Kunar and Paktika provinces. This incident has reignited fears of renewed hostilities along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, following clashes in October.

Pakistan Strikes Afghanistan s Khost Kills 10 Including 9 Children Claims Taliban — Army personnel inspect the suicide attack site outside the border force headquarters in Peshawar on November 24, 2025. (Photo credit: AFP)

Mujahid added that separate airstrikes were also conducted in Kunar and Paktika provinces the same night, injuring four civilians.

The incident has reignited fears of renewed hostilities along the volatile Afghanistan-Pakistan border, following a brief lull after heavy clashes in October.

On October 9, Pakistan launched airstrikes in Kabul, Khost, Jalalabad, and Paktika, prompting retaliatory attacks by Taliban forces on Pakistani military posts between October 11 and 12. Both sides claimed to have inflicted significant losses, with fighting continuing into the morning of October 12.

The violence has further strained relations between Islamabad and the Taliban-led government in Kabul. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of allowing the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) to operate freely across its territory since the Taliban's takeover in 2021. Kabul denies the charge, but tensions escalated after Afghanistan blamed Pakistan for drone strikes in Kabul earlier in October and vowed retaliation.

A ceasefire brokered by Qatar on October 19 remains technically in place, though subsequent talks in Istanbul failed to produce an agreement. Afghan negotiators refused to provide written guarantees to prevent TTP fighters from using Afghan soil for attacks inside Pakistan.

The latest strike in Khost now raises concerns that the fragile truce could unravel, plunging the border region back into a cycle of violence.