Two Explosions Rock Jalalabad in Eastern Afghanistan... Pakistan Denies Its Fighter Jet Crashed

SadaNews - Two powerful explosions shook the city of Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan this morning (Saturday), a day after Pakistani airstrikes targeted Kabul and major Afghan cities.

The roar of a jet was heard followed by two explosions near Jalalabad airport, the capital of Nangarhar province, on the road between the capital Kabul and the Pakistani border, according to the French news agency.

The agency reported that a Pakistani fighter jet crashed in the Afghan city of Jalalabad and its pilot was captured alive, as announced by the Afghan armed forces and police today (Saturday), while residents reported that the pilot parachuted from the plane before being captured.

The police spokesman Tayeb Hamad stated: "A Pakistani fighter jet was shot down in the sixth district of Jalalabad, and its pilot was captured alive." The spokesman for the army in eastern Afghanistan, Wahidullah Mohammadi, confirmed that the Afghan forces shot down the Pakistani plane "and the pilot was captured alive."

For its part, Pakistan denied the claims made by the Afghan army about the crash of one of its military aircraft.

Pakistan launched air strikes yesterday (Friday) on the Afghan capital Kabul and the city of Kandahar in the south of the country, where the Taliban's Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada is based, declaring an "open war" on the Taliban authorities.

These airstrikes came after Afghan forces launched a border attack on Pakistan late Thursday, which the Taliban government stated was in response to previous Pakistani airstrikes on Afghanistan.