Pakistan accused of attacking Afghan university

Pakistan accused of attacking Afghan university26 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleEPATaliban security forces (file image)Yogita Limaye,South Asia and Afghanistan correspondentandGabriela Pomeroy,BBC NewsPakistani attacks on the east Afghan province of Kunar have killed at least seven people and injured 75, among whom are students and a professor at Kunar University, multiple sources have told the BBC. According to the Taliban government, 30 of the injured are university students. Pakistan's information ministry denied attacking the university and residential areas, saying the reports were fake. Reports of the Kunar attacks come several weeks after a Pakistani air strike on a drug rehabilitation centre in the Afghan capital Kabul which, according to the UN, is now known to have killed 269 people. The Taliban say mortars and rockets were fired in the attack on Kunar province, while other sources told the BBC that jets and drones had been used. An unnamed professor who was teaching at Kunar University told the BBC he had heard terrifying explosions across the university campus.Matiullah Shahab, a freelance journalist and human rights activist in the town of Asadabad, told the BBC he had been a kilometre away from the attack on the university and had heard the sound of a bombardment at around 14:00 (09:30 GMT). He said he had seen people running away from the town centre during the attack, and that he knew of several civilians who had been injured and sent to hospital for treatment. A statement from Afghanistan's higher education ministry said the university's buildings and surroundings had suffered extensive damage.Hundreds of people have been killed or injured in cross-border fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan in recent months. Over the past few weeks, following Chinese mediation which resulted in talks between the two sides in Urumqi in early April, a fragile ceasefire had largely held.During this ceasefire, leaders of the Taliban government decided not to speak publicly about Pakistan or any of its earlier air strikes so as to not jeopardise negotiations.That silence has been decisively broken, with the Taliban government's deputy spokesman, Hamdullah Fitrat, saying that they regard the strikes on Kunar as "grave and inexcusable war crimes, a blatant act of brutality, and a provocative action".Pakistan - which has also been operating as a mediator in the war between Iran and the US - has previously said its air strikes target militant hideouts in Afghanistan. Pakistan used to be a major backer of the Taliban but relations deteriorated after Islamabad accused the group of providing a safe haven to the Pakistan Taliban group, which launched an armed insurgency against government forces.Pakistan air strike kills at least 100 at Kabul drug rehab centreWhy are Afghanistan and Pakistan fighting?PakistanAsiaAfghanistan

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