Pakistani media report a drone has hit a mosque in Bannu close to the border, injuring at the very least 5 individuals.
Published On 28 Feb 2026
International requires mediation are rising as Pakistan and Afghanistan interact in cross-border fighting for a third day, in essentially the most severe flare-up in violence between the neighbours in months that Pakistan says has introduced them into “open war”.
The European Union’s overseas coverage chief Kaja Kallas urged on Saturday for the nations to convey down the temperature and enter talks, warning the violence may have an effect on the broader area.
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Iran, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Russia, in addition to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, additionally urged de-escalation and mediation.
Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have stated they’re open to negotiations to convey an finish to the battle. But Pakistan on Saturday stated there can be “no dialogue”, repeating its long-running demand that Afghanistan cease harbouring “terrorism”, an allegation Kabul denies.
“There won’t be any talks. There’s no dialogue. There’s no negotiation. Terrorism from Afghanistan has to end,” the Pakistani prime minister’s spokesperson for overseas media, Mosharraf Zaidi, instructed Pakistan TV, stressing that Pakistan’s duty was to guard its residents and territory.
Meanwhile, tit-for-tat assaults occurred close to the fraught border. Afghan media reported that Taliban forces fired drone assaults on Pakistani army camps within the border areas of Miranshah and Spinwam.
Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported a drone assault hit a mosque within the metropolis of Bannu additional south, injuring at the very least 5 individuals. And Pakistan TV stated Pakistani forces waged their very own assault focusing on a number of positions of the Afghan Taliban.
The newest violence erupted after Pakistani air strikes on Afghan territory last weekend triggered retaliatory Afghan assaults stretching throughout six Pakistani districts on Thursday. In response, Pakistan carried out widespread aerial assaults within the early hours of Friday on the Afghan capital and two different areas, Kandahar and Paktia. It was Pakistan’s first air strikes on the southern energy base of the Taliban authorities since they returned to energy in 2021.
Both sides reported heavy losses with conflicting tolls. Pakistan stated 12 of its troopers and 274 Taliban had been killed, whereas the Taliban stated 13 of its fighters and 55 Pakistani troopers died. Neither facet’s claims may very well be independently verified by Al Jazeera.
The United States, which considers Pakistan a significant non-NATO ally, stated it backs Pakistan’s proper to “defend itself against Taliban attacks”.
Pakistan has witnessed a pointy rise in violence inside the nation in recent times, together with suicide bombings and coordinated assaults focusing on safety forces. Pakistani authorities blame the Pakistan Taliban, or TTP, for lots of the assaults, and accuse Afghanistan of sheltering the group inside Afghanistan.
Kabul rejects the allegations and says it doesn’t enable anybody to make use of Afghan soil for assaults on any nation, together with Pakistan.
Pakistan is nuclear-armed and its army capabilities are vastly superior to Afghanistan’s. However, the Taliban is adept at warfare, hardened by many years of preventing with United States-led forces.
