KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – A school was severely damaged in Pakistani rocket attacks in Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar province on Wednesday night, Taliban authorities and local sources said, as cross-border fighting between the two neighbours continues despite recent efforts to ease tensions.
The “Markazi High School” in Dangam district sustained significant structural damage, with parts of the building destroyed, according to local sources. The strikes hit several locations in the district, affecting civilian areas.
Local Taliban authorities in Kunar confirmed the school was among the targets but gave no immediate details on casualties at the site.
Pakistani officials have not yet commented on the incident.
The attack forms part of a broader escalation along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border that began in late February. Kunar, a mountainous province sharing a border with Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region, has faced repeated rocket fire, artillery shelling, and airstrikes in recent weeks.
Local officials and residents reported that civilian infrastructure, including schools, homes, and agricultural land, has been increasingly affected, prompting some families to temporarily flee their villages.
The United Nations has verified 289 civilian casualties in Afghanistan from Pakistani attacks between late February and mid-March, including 76 killed and 213 injured. Many of the victims were women and children. Taliban authorities have reported higher figures, saying 761 civilians were killed and 626 injured as of April 4, when clashes were at their peak.
Civilian casualties have also been reported on the Pakistani side of the border. On Wednesday, mortar shells fired from across the border struck a house in the Kitkot area of Bajaur district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killing three civilians — including a woman and two children from the same family — and injuring three others, according to Pakistani security sources and media reports. Pakistan described the shelling as “unprovoked aggression” by Afghan Taliban forces.
The latest violence comes shortly after a week of talks in China, where officials from both sides discussed ways to reduce tensions. The discussions, mediated by Beijing, ended without a breakthrough but included agreements to avoid actions that could further escalate the conflict and to continue dialogue toward a comprehensive solution, according to the Taliban authorities.
Relations between the two neighbors have long been strained over disputes along the Durand Line and Pakistan’s accusations that the Afghan Taliban provides safe haven to anti-Pakistan militants. The renewed fighting has further strained already fragile border stability and disrupted daily life for communities living along the frontier.
