Reported Pakistani Strike in Khost Kills Nine Children and a Woman, Escalating Tensions

12:47 PM, 11/25/2025

Afghan officials say a midnight strike in Khost’s Gurbuz district destroyed the home of Waliat Khan and killed nine children (five boys, four girls) and one woman. Other strikes in Kunar and Paktika reportedly wounded four civilians. The attack follows a suicide bombing in Peshawar and risks destabilising a fragile ceasefire between Afghanistan and Pakistan, with both sides trading accusations over militant sanctuaries.

Afghan authorities say a house in the Gurbuz district of southeastern Khost province was bombed at midnight (19:30 GMT), killing nine children and one woman and destroying the home of a local resident, according to the Taliban administration’s spokesman.

Zabihullah Mujahid said other air strikes were carried out in parts of northeastern Kunar and eastern Paktika provinces, wounding at least four civilians. There was no immediate response from Pakistani authorities.

“The Pakistani invading forces bombed the house of a local civilian resident, Waliat Khan, son of Qazi Mir,” Mujahid wrote on X. “As a result, nine children [five boys and four girls] and one woman were martyred, and his house was destroyed.”

The reported bombardment comes a day after a suicide attack on the headquarters of Pakistan’s paramilitary Federal Constabulary in Peshawar, which the Jamaat‑ul‑Ahrar — a breakaway faction of the Tehreek‑e‑Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — said it carried out. Pakistan’s state broadcaster reported the Peshawar attackers were Afghan nationals, and Islamabad has repeatedly accused militants of operating from Afghan soil.

Earlier this month, a separate suicide attack in Islamabad killed at least 12 people; Pakistani officials said that cell had been “guided at every step by the … high command based in Afghanistan.” Kabul denies harbouring militants and says Pakistan shelters groups hostile to Afghanistan.

The incident risks undoing a fragile ceasefire between the neighbours. Border clashes in October left roughly 70 people dead on both sides; a ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Turkiye paused fighting, but follow‑up talks in Istanbul have failed to produce a lasting agreement, with Pakistan urging Kabul to take action against TTP fighters and other insurgent groups.

This account is based on statements from Afghanistan’s Taliban administration and local reports; the claims have not been independently verified and Pakistan had not issued an immediate comment at the time of reporting.