At least three people, including two children, were martyred after unprovoked cross-border shelling from Afghanistan targeted civilian population in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Bajaur district, security sources said on Wednesday.
The shelling by Afghan Taliban operatives struck Malik Shaheen village in the border area of Kat Kot, leaving a woman and two children from the same family dead, while three others were seriously injured and shifted to hospital.
The sources described the incident as unprovoked aggression against civilians, saying that Indian-backed Afghan Taliban operatives were behind the attack.
They added that the assault followed a failed attempt in recent days to infiltrate militants into Pakistan, which was foiled by timely action from the Pakistan Army.
The attackers targeted civilians after the infiltration bid was thwarted.
Pakistani forces have since responded by striking Afghan Taliban posts along the Bajaur border, inflicting heavy casualties, the sources added.
The escalation comes amid ongoing Operation Ghazab lil-Haq against militants and their support infrastructure in neighbouring Afghanistan.
The operation was launched in February following repeated cross-border aggression by the Afghan Taliban regime, before being temporarily paused in March on the occasion of Eid ul Fitr.
Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to avoid any escalation in their armed conflict, during talks hosted by China in recent days, Beijing said last week.
“Representatives from China, Afghanistan and Pakistan held a week of informal meetings in Urumqi, Xinjiang, from April 1 to 7,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning had said.
The three delegations “engaged in frank and pragmatic discussions in a positive atmosphere”, she said at a regular news conference in Beijing.
According to the spokesperson, Afghanistan and Pakistan stated “their commitment to resolving their differences as soon as possible and realising a return to normalcy in bilateral relations, agreeing not to take any actions that would escalate or complicate the situation”.
Diplomats from Pakistan and Afghanistan had already reported the China-hosted talks last week, but Beijing had not confirmed them.
