At least 15 people, including women and children, were killed in a series of airstrikes carried out by Pakistani jets on December 24 in the Barmal district of Afghanistan's Paktika province. The attacks targeted seven villages, with five members of a single family reportedly among the casualties in Laman village. The death toll is expected to rise as rescue operations continue.

Local reports indicate that Murg Bazaar, one of the affected villages, has been destroyed, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in the region. The Taliban’s Ministry of Defence strongly condemned the attack, labeling it a violation of Afghan sovereignty and pledging retaliation. They claimed that the victims included “Waziristani refugees,” civilians displaced from Pakistan’s tribal areas by earlier military operations.

Pakistani officials have not confirmed the strikes, but sources close to the military suggest the operation targeted Taliban hideouts near the border. The strikes come amid rising tensions between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban, particularly over the presence of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants in Afghanistan.

The TTP has ramped up attacks against Pakistan in recent months, with Islamabad accusing the Afghan Taliban of sheltering the group in border provinces. However, Taliban spokesperson Enayatullah Khwarazmi denied these allegations and asserted that civilians, including children, had been killed in the airstrikes.

This incident highlights the growing volatility along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, where strained relations and ongoing violence continue to endanger civilian lives. Calls for an international response are growing as the region edges closer to a potential escalation of conflict.