Kabul: Afghanistan nationals strongly reacted against the Pakistani military’s air strikes and rocket attacks on Afghan provinces killing dozens of people, local media reported on Sunday.
Pakistani air strikes, on Friday night, targeted civilians in Esperai district in Khost province, killing dozens of people. It is reported that more than 40 people have been killed or wounded in the attacks.
A large number of Nangarhar residents gathered in Ghanikhil district in the provinces on Sunday to protest the Pakistani air strikes on Afghan soil, reports Tolo News.
The protest in Nangarhar follows a big rally held by the residents of Khost on Saturday evening where they chanted anti-Pakistan slogans. Afghanistan’s envoy to the UN in a statement “strongly” condemned the attack and called it an “aggression against the territorial integrity of Afghanistan” and a “flagrant breach of international law.”
Earlier, Afghanistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Pakistani envoy in Kabul over the attacks in Khost and Kunar provinces.
The United Nations Assistant Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) also said it was “deeply concerned” by civilian deaths caused by air strikes, and the mission was verifying the extent of casualties.
In a Twitter post, on Saturday, the mission said: UNAMA is deeply concerned by reports of civilian casualties, including women and children, as a result of airstrikes in Khost & Kunar provinces last night.
“Civilians are never a target,” UNAMA said, adding that it is working to establish facts on the ground and verify the extent of losses. Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai also condemned the airstrikes calling it a crime against humanity and a violation of Afghanistan’s national sovereignty and international principles.
