Afghan security forces patrol the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, in Torkham, in Nangarhar province, in February 2023. SHAFIULLAH KAKAR / AFP SHAFIULLAH KAKAR / AFP The UN called, Thursday, December 26, for The opening of an investigation into Pakistani strikes carried out on Tuesday in southern Afghanistan, which left 46 dead, including civilians, according to Kabul. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (Manua) said it had “received credible information that dozens of civilians were killed by airstrikes by Pakistani military forces in Paktika province, Afghanistan, on 24 December “. “International law requires military forces to take necessary precautions to prevent harm to civilians, including distinguishing between civilians and combatants,” she added in a statement, saying an investigation was “necessary.” According to the Taliban government, the Pakistani strikes left 46 dead, the majority of them children and women. Islamabad has not confirmed carrying out the raids. On Thursday, the spokesperson for Pakistani diplomacy affirmed that “operations” were being carried out in “border areas” to “protect Pakistanis from terrorist groups, including the TTP [Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, talibans pakistanais] “. These operations “are based on real and concrete intelligence”, assured Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, affirming that “the protection of civilians is a major concern”. Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers Pakistan, faced with an unprecedented resurgence of Taliban violence Read later Porous border Pakistan claims that armed groups, such as the Pakistani Taliban, are carrying out planned attacks on Afghan soil, across a very porous border , which the Taliban authorities deny. A Pakistani official told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Wednesday that the strikes targeting “terrorist hideouts” had killed at least twenty TTP fighters. During a press visit organized by the Taliban government on Thursday in the district of Barmal, about thirty kilometers from the Pakistani border, AFP journalists saw brick houses and a madrasa (Koranic school) destroyed, in three separate locations. Several residents reported pulling bodies from the rubble after strikes targeted homes, killing several members of the same family. “Such a brutal and arrogant intrusion is unacceptable and cannot go unanswered,” said Noorullah Noori, Minister for Borders and Tribal Affairs. On Wednesday, in a hospital in Sharan, the capital of Paktika, an AFP correspondent saw several injured children, including one on a drip and another with a head bandage. According to a July UN Security Council report, around 6,500 TTP fighters are based in Afghanistan, where they are tolerated and supported by the Afghan Taliban who provide them with weapons and allow them to train. Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers The UN advocates the reintegration of Afghanistan from the Taliban into the international community Read later Le Monde Reuse this content
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