Afghanistan Claims 'IS Airstrikes in Pakistan'... Pakistan Says 'Drones Shot Down'

Denial of Terrorist Hideouts

Afghanistan announced that it had carried out airstrikes on hideouts of the extremist militant group Islamic State (IS) in Pakistan; however, Pakistan claimed that it had shot down the drones in advance.

Yonhap News Agency

According to major foreign media reports on June 20 (local time), the Afghan Ministry of Defense stated via its social media account X (formerly Twitter) the previous day that its air force conducted airstrikes on IS hideouts located in Balochistan province in southwestern Pakistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwestern Pakistan on the night of June 18.

The Afghan Ministry of Defense said, "These bases (hideouts) are known to have been used to plan and organize attacks against Afghanistan in cooperation with certain hostile intelligence agencies," adding, "They have also served as staging grounds for several deadly attacks in the past."

However, Pakistan's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting stated that a poorly constructed drone entered its airspace but was immediately identified and shot down. The Pakistani government said, "As always, these claims (from Afghanistan) are false," emphasizing, "The terrorist hideouts are within the territory controlled by the Afghan Taliban regime, where they are operated and supported."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.