By Our Correspondent

KUNAR, Afghanistan  - Pakistan conducted precision strikes targeting three houses of senior Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commanders in eastern Afghanistan’s Kunar province on Monday, sources in Kunar province told The South Asia Times, contradicting widespread Afghan Taliban-linked propaganda claiming a university was hit.

Afghan media and Taliban-affiliated social media accounts had alleged that Pakistani strikes hit a university in Kunar, killing seven people and injuring over 80. However, sources on the ground in Asadabad say the narrative is false.

According to sources who spoke with The South Asia Times, the airstrikes targeted three specific locations: the house of Inqalabi Ustad, the so-called of Swat; Maulvi Muhammad Tahir, head of Bajaur; and Maulvi Asad, the TTP’s intelligence chief.

All three homes were located near a university in Kunar, not on its premises.

“Pakistan did not target the university,” a source said. “When the strikes hit the nearby houses, panic spread. One student said unknown missiles hit houses near our university, and we don’t know who was targeted.”

The Afghan Taliban immediately cordoned off the area with hundreds of fighters, preventing anyone from accessing the actual strike sites. “If seven people were killed, they would have been inside those houses,” the source added.

Some students sustained minor injuries due to panic and broken glass from the nearby blasts, but the university itself was not damaged.

The Taliban’s deputy spokesperson, Hamdullah Fitrat, claimed on social media that mortar and rocket attacks launched by Pakistan killed four people and injured 70 others, including around 30 university students.

Fitrat said the strikes hit the Syed Jamaluddin Afghani University in Asadabad, the provincial capital.

However, Pakistan’s Ministry of Information swiftly rejected the allegations. In a statement posted on X, the ministry called the claims “frivolous and fake” and accused the Afghan Taliban of fabricating the narrative to “cover up support for Fitna al-Khawarij” -- the state term used for the banned terrorist group of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

“Pakistan’s targeting is precise and intelligence-based. No strike has been carried out at Sayed Jamaluddin Afghani University,” the ministry said. It further accused Afghan media and officials of being backed by “Indian propagandists,” alleging a pattern of false reporting designed to deflect attention from the Taliban’s support for terrorist groups.

The Taliban’s own figures have varied. While Fitrat initially reported four dead and 70 injured, an earlier TOLOnews report cited three dead and 45 injured.

This incident echoes a similar propaganda pattern from last month, sources noted. In that case, the Afghan Taliban claimed Pakistan had struck a drug rehabilitation center in Kabul, alleging over 400 people were killed.

A doctor from that center later told The South Asia Times that Pakistan had actually targeted a Taliban weapons depot nearby. Militants then set fire to the rehabilitation center themselves, according to the doctor -- a claim later endorsed by former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. The Taliban never produced a list of the 400 alleged victims.

“Now the same propaganda is being repeated here,” a source said. 

Tensions between Islamabad and Kabul have sharply escalated since February 2026, when Pakistan launched a series of targeted strikes against seven Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) hideouts across three eastern Afghan provinces.

The operation marked a significant shift in Pakistan's approach, followed by retaliatory cross-border clashes. In subsequent weeks, Pakistan expanded its targeting to include key Afghan military installations, including locations in the capital Kabul and the strategic Bagram airbase.

The Afghan Taliban responded by mobilizing heavy weaponry along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and accusing Pakistan of violating sovereignty. Despite Chinese-mediated peace talks in early April that briefly calmed the situation, intermittent strikes and propaganda battles have continued, with each side accusing the other of undermining the fragile détente.