Overnight Explosions Reported in Khost–Barmal Belt

Kabul – A powerful late-night explosion rattled overnight in the Barmal district of Paktika, with additional blasts reported across Maghlgai in Gurbaz (Khost), Margha in Barmal (Paktika), and Sagai in Asad Abad (Kunar). The areas struck fall within a stretch long identified by UN monitoring teams as a key facilitation corridor for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA). Local sources speaking to HTN said multiple locations associated with Hafiz Gul Bahadur, Noor Wali Mehsud and Khurasani-linked factions were hit, with at least eleven casualties reported across the combined strikes.

Hours after the incident, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid claimed on X that in Gerbazoo, Khost, an adjoining district, “Pakistani forces bombed the home of a civilian,” alleging that ten people were killed, including nine children and a woman. He released images he said showed child casualties. Islamabad has not confirmed any involvement in last night’s events and has maintained strategic silence.Sources in Islamabad’s foreign office, speaking to HTN, have categorically denied the accusations. 

Notably, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar publicly claimed responsibility for the Frontier Constabulary attack in Peshawar on November 24, an operation Pakistan attributes to planning and facilitation from Afghan soil. Despite repeated diplomatic engagements, Kabul has yet to address the continued presence of TTP, JuA, and Hafiz Gul Bahadur infrastructure openly operating across Khost, Kunar, and Paktika.

The Corridor at the Heart of Militant Safe Houses

Security observers note that the presence of militant infrastructure within residential belts has long complicated the regional environment. United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) and independent researchers have documented a consistent pattern of TTP and JuA fighters embedding themselves inside civilian homes to deter targeting and to stage casualty narratives after retaliatory actions. A recent TTP internal directive encouraging fighters to remain within populated areas has further entrenched this tactic. As a result, allegations of civilian casualties often emerge immediately after any strike on militant-linked zones, whether verified or not.

For years, the broader Khost–Barmal–Kunar belt has been flagged in UN Monitoring Team reports as a critical transit zone for TTP and JuA, hosting safehouses, weapons-smuggling channels, and training pockets. This corridor has been repeatedly implicated in cross-border attacks into Pakistan. Since August 2021 alone, more than one thousand attacks have been launched from Afghan soil, including a fresh wave targeting security forces in Khyber, North Waziristan and Bannu within the last seventy-two hours.

Disinformation, Images Without Verification

Mujahid’s release of unverified images immediately after the explosions mirrors a familiar narrative playbook. Analysts caution that visuals circulated by armed groups without independent verification frequently turn out to be misattributed or staged, a tactic also documented during the post-2001 NATO campaign when militant groups used civilian areas as shields to amplify propaganda impact. Pakistani officials consistently emphasize that unverified claims cannot substitute for evidence and that Kabul must cooperate on joint fact-finding teams to establish the ground truth, especially within districts known to host multiple TTP and JuA safehouses.

“Blaming Pakistan for strikes on terror bases is revisionist theatre, show us credible proof, not recycled photos,” a security official noted. “Pakistan is defending its citizens from cross-border terrorism, not hunting civilians.” Independent fact-checkers have documented repeated reuse of old Syria and Gaza footage to depict fresh events in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

While Pakistan has not claimed responsibility yet, its security position remains unchanged: any action, if undertaken, is strictly directed at anti-Pakistan militant networks operating from Afghan territory, never at civilians. Islamabad has repeatedly called on Kabul to activate the long-standing joint verification mechanisms designed precisely for such incidents, but these requests have remained unanswered. This recurring pattern has emerged after every major TTP attack in recent years, including strikes in Chitral, Zhob, North Waziristan, and Khyber, where civilian casualties are reported while Afghan authorities simultaneously block coordination processes that could clarify the facts.

Islamabad maintains it has not carried out air strikes in Afghanistan; any operation undertaken is publicly acknowledged. Officials suggest that explosions in the affected areas are more likely the result of internal feuds or infighting within Afghanistan, or potentially staged provocations by infiltrated external actors. The foreign office also emphasized that circulating images are mostly old or doctored, and noted that Afghanistan appears apprehensive about Pakistan exercising its legitimate right to respond after recent attacks in Islamabad, Wana College, and Peshawar.

A Broader Geopolitical Timing

The surge in militant activity also comes at a sensitive diplomatic juncture. Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Iran have been exploring structured mediation frameworks aimed at stabilizing the Afghan–Pakistan frontier and securing written, verifiable counterterror commitments from Kabul. Historically, escalations involving TTP and JuA tend to intensify whenever international pressure begins to converge around Afghan counterterror obligations, raising concerns that renewed violence may seek to disrupt these diplomatic initiatives.

Also see: Turkish Delegation to Visit Pakistan Next Week to Mediate Kabul–Islamabad Tensions

Since the early November 2025 Istanbul mediation rounds, Pakistan has faced multiple incidents, including suicide bombings outside an Islamabad district court and a cadet college near the Afghan border, as well as other TTP and ISKP attacks. Pakistani authorities state Afghan nationals were involved in some of these incidents and have made arrests, though independent verification is ongoing. UN Monitoring Team reports continue to identify the terrain as a TTP/JuA facilitation belt, with multiple strike zones mapping onto known cross-border infiltration routes into Khyber, North Waziristan, and Bannu.

Pakistan maintains that sustainable peace requires Kabul to dismantle TTP and JuA sanctuaries, eliminate cross-border facilitation networks, and activate joint verification teams to establish factual clarity after any incident. Islamabad stresses the need for enforceable counter-terror commitments, noting that propaganda cycles and unverified accusations erode trust and derail confidence-building. Until structural issues are addressed, Pakistan warns that the cycle of cross-border attacks, denials, and blame-trading will continue to destabilize an already fragile frontier.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.