Reporting snapshot · 1 October 2026. Pakistan and Afghanistan's Taliban government give sharply different accounts of these strikes, including the death toll and the timing. This is a dated snapshot drawn from the Information Ministry's statement, as carried by Pakistani outlets, and independent reporting by the BBC and Al Jazeera. Neither side's casualty figures could be independently verified.
What happened
Pakistan carried out airstrikes inside Afghanistan overnight, saying it hit militant hideouts in two locations. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said the “well-planned and calibrated” strikes on Thursday, 1 October, were a continuation of Operation Ghazab lil-Haq and targeted camps belonging to the groups the state calls Fitna al-Khawarij — its designation for the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — and Fitna al-Hindustan, its term for Baloch armed groups it says are backed by India.
“Targets were destroyed with precision and initial reports suggest the killing of twenty two terrorists,” the ministry said in a statement on X, a text reproduced by The Express Tribune and Geo News. It said large quantities of weapons and ammunition stored at the hideouts were destroyed, that the strikes were based on “credible intelligence”, and that “maximum precautions” were taken to ensure no collateral damage.
Afghanistan’s Taliban government described a different scene. Zabihullah Mujahid, its chief spokesman, said the attacks hit homes in Kunar province in the northeast and Helmand province in the south, killing nine civilians and wounding 11 others, with women and children among the dead, the BBC reported. He said three houses were destroyed and condemned the strikes as “an aggression and crime against all accepted principles”, Al Jazeera reported.
A Reuters photograph from Shultan district in Kunar showed a man salvaging belongings from the rubble of a damaged house; a second, from Garmsir district in Helmand, showed another damaged home. A Garmsir resident identified only as Qudratullah told the BBC that the strikes began at about 03:30 local time and continued for roughly 30 minutes. “After the second strikes, we took our children and fled the area,” he said. Al Jazeera reported that Mujahid placed the attacks late on Wednesday, 30 September.
The two accounts
The casualty figures are the central dispute, and Al Jazeera said it could not independently verify the claims made by either side. Pakistan said 22 militants were killed and rejects accusations that it strikes civilians; Kabul said nine civilians died and says the strikes hit homes.
The same pattern has recurred through the year. Pakistan’s 21 September airstrikes in Kunar and Paktika were followed by a similar split: Pakistan reported 28 militants killed, while Afghan officials reported three civilians dead. UNAMA, the United Nations mission in Afghanistan, said last week it had documented more than 1,100 civilian casualties in cross-border violence this year, a figure Al Jazeera cited and which has not been broken down here.
The latest statement also widened Pakistan’s public framing. By naming Fitna al-Khawarij and Fitna al-Hindustan together, the ministry tied the TTP — long the focus of operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — to Baloch armed groups that operate mainly in Balochistan. Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, noted that the Balochistan Liberation Army has claimed an increasing number of attacks in Balochistan while the Pakistani Taliban has concentrated on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Why it matters
The strikes are the latest turn in a cycle that has pushed Pakistan-Afghanistan relations steadily downwards. Islamabad says the Taliban administration shelters armed groups that plan and stage attacks on Pakistani soil and has repeatedly accused Kabul of failing to act against them. Kabul denies this, calling Pakistan’s militancy an internal problem, and says Pakistani strikes have hit civilian homes.
The operation follows a run of violence Pakistan blames on militants based in Afghanistan, including the 18 September assault on the Kohat police lines and a 20 September ambush in Hangu that killed six security personnel. Pakistan staged airstrikes on 21 September, shot down eight drones near the Torkham border two days later, and struck 10 locations it described as drone-launch and storage sites in late September, according to The Express Tribune. It has now added a further round.
The repeated reports of civilian deaths have also become a diplomatic problem for Islamabad. KhabarWire’s 28 September report on Pakistan’s rejection of Afghan claims about Nuristan described how quickly each new exchange escalates, and the United Nations figure gives Kabul and its supporters a running count to cite.
What is still uncertain
Several points remain open. The timing is disputed: the Taliban spokesman placed the attacks late on Wednesday, while residents of Garmsir described them in the early hours of Thursday. Pakistan has not published a detailed list of the targets or the dead, and no independent party has verified either the 22-militant or the nine-civilian figure.
It is also unclear whether Kabul will respond militarily, as it has threatened to do in the past, or whether the strikes will further stall the diplomatic tracks that China, Turkey and Qatar have each tried to keep alive. Any ground response, or a fresh round of Pakistani strikes, would test how far both sides are prepared to go. Because the accounts come from the two governments involved and could not be verified on the ground, readers should treat the tolls as claims rather than settled facts.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a synthesis of published material, not eyewitness reporting. Sources were reviewed on 1 October 2026. The casualty figures are contested and could not be independently verified.
- The Express Tribune — "Pakistan carried out 'well-planned, calibrated' air strikes on terrorist hideouts in Afghanistan: info ministry"1 October 2026 · The Information Ministry's statement in full, including the 22-militant figure, the *Fitna al-Khawarij* and *Fitna al-Hindustan* framing, and the recent sequence of strikes and drone interceptions.
- Geo News — "At least 22 militants reportedly killed in Pakistan strikes on terror hideouts in Afghanistan"1 October 2026 · The same ministry statement and the separate counter-terrorism operations reported the same day.
- BBC News — "Pakistan launches deadly air strikes on Afghanistan"1 October 2026 · The Taliban government's claim of nine civilians killed and 11 wounded, the Shultan and Garmsir locations, the eyewitness account, and the wider escalation since February.
- Al Jazeera — "Pakistan launches deadly air attacks on Afghanistan"1 October 2026 · Confirmation that neither side's claims were independently verified, the TTP and BLA targets named by the ministry, and UNAMA's figure of more than 1,100 civilian casualties this year.
