Pakistan launches fresh airstrikes in Afghanistan after deadly Kohat bombing

Pakistan carried out new airstrikes inside Afghan territory on 21 September 2026, saying the raids targeted militant infrastructure after a deadly bombing in the Pakistani city of Kohat earlier that day.

Pakistani security sources told reporters the strikes struck targets in the eastern Afghan provinces of Nangarhar, Kunar and Paktika. Officials said those behind Friday’s bombing in Kohat were hit in Paktika, while Kunar was reported to have seen three people killed in the strikes.

Escalation along the border

The bombing in Kohat on Friday left at least 22 people dead. An Islamist coalition calling itself Itihad-ul Mujahidin Pakistan claimed responsibility; the group is led by long-time militant Hafiz Gul Bahadur, who has known links to al-Qaida.

Islamabad has repeatedly accused Afghan authorities of sheltering militants who carry out attacks in Pakistan; Kabul rejects those allegations. Taliban spokesman Sabihula Mujahid confirmed on the platform X that two of the airstrikes took place.

The two neighbours have seen open confrontation since about a year ago, when cross-border incidents became more frequent and Pakistan closed frontier crossings, affecting food and humanitarian deliveries into Afghanistan. At the end of February this year Pakistan’s defence minister declared "open war" with Afghanistan, triggering a wave of air raids.

United Nations investigators have recorded 499 Afghan civilian deaths as a result of Pakistani strikes from October last year onwards. Domestic instability in Pakistan has also risen: the South Asia Terrorism Portal reports that 662 civilians have been killed in terrorist attacks in Pakistan so far this year, exceeding last year’s total.

Photo: press material from the event