A Pakistani delegation has already arrived in Doha, and an Afghan delegation is scheduled to arrive in the Qatari capital on Saturday, said the sources, who requested anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media, Reuters reported on Friday night.
Rumors of a ceasefire extension emerged just hours after a deadly suicide bombing near the Afghan border killed seven Pakistani soldiers and injured 13 others, underscoring the fragility of the situation.
Pakistani security officials said militants attacked a military camp in North Waziristan, with one assailant driving an explosive-laden vehicle into the border wall and two others shot dead after trying to break into the compound. Six militants were killed in the attack, a statement from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office said.
Later that day, Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told local Pashto-language TV news channel Ariana News that Kabul had instructed its forces to maintain a ceasefire as long as Pakistan refrained from attacking.
Within hours of extending the ceasefire, Afghanistan’s Paktika provincial police spokesperson Mohammad Ismail Mawia announced that Pakistan had carried out airstrikes in the Barmal and Urgun districts.
Details of casualties were not provided.
MNA/