Kabul blasts ‘cross-border strikes’ to target TTP chief, says Report as Pak-Afghan tensions rise

Kabul on Friday was reportedly rocked by two powerful explosions and subsequent automatic gunfire amid tension on the Afghan-Pakistan border. According to information obtained by CNN-News18, multiple witnesses reported the sound of a fighter jet over the city’s airspace.

Top intelligence sources told CNN News18 that the incident appeared to be a targeted aerial strike aimed at Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Noor Wali Mehsud, operating from a TTP and al-Qaeda safehouse in eastern Kabul. The sources went on to confirm that the strike successfully targeted the compound.

Voice messages accessed by the news outlet suggested that Noor Wali Mehsud is safe and in Pakistan. However, CNN-News18 has learnt that his son was killed in the attack. The sources revealed that the act that the target was a high-value Pakistani militant, which suggests a covert, cross-border operation.

As per the report, the incident took place 48 hours after Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif publicly accused Afghanistan of harbouring terrorists. He also hinted at conducting strong retaliatory strikes either directly by Pakistan or by a third-party power with Islamabad’s crucial intelligence input and possible ground-level assistance.

Sources called the move “highly provocative” as it reflects Pakistan’s willingness to strike inside Kabul for the first time since the Taliban takeover in 2021. Given the Taliban’s limited air defence capabilities and the absence of the former Afghan Air Force, an attack of this nature is seen by the Taliban as a “blatant violation of Afghan sovereignty, CNN-News18 reported.

It is also important to note that the incident comes at a time when Afghanistan’s Interim Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi is in India on an eight-day visit, during which he held separate talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval.