At least three people have been killed in Pakistani airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan, the Taliban government said on Monday, raising tensions between the two neighbouring countries.
The strikes hit areas in Kunar and Paktika provinces near the Pakistani border, according to Afghan officials.
Taliban deputy government spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said a house in Nurgal district of Kunar was destroyed in one of the strikes, killing three members of the same family and injuring four others.
He said Pakistani aircraft also bombed two locations in Barmal district of Paktika, destroying a shop and an unoccupied house, but causing no casualties there.
Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the strikes as an act of aggression and said Afghanistan would respond.
Pakistan’s military had not immediately commented on the reported airstrikes.
However, two Pakistani security officials told The Associated Press that the military had targeted suspected militant hideouts and that 28 militants were killed in the operation.
The competing claims could not immediately be independently verified.
The strikes came days after a deadly attack on a police facility in Kohat, northwestern Pakistan, in which at least 21 people were killed, according to Pakistani officials.
Pakistan has accused militants operating from Afghanistan of carrying out attacks on its territory and has repeatedly demanded that the Taliban government take action against them.
The Taliban government has denied harbouring militants responsible for attacks in Pakistan and maintains that militancy inside Pakistan is an internal issue for Islamabad.
A separate clash between Pakistani security forces and militants in Hangu district near the Afghan border on Sunday also left six Pakistani soldiers and eight militants dead, according to the Pakistani military.
The latest airstrikes threaten to reignite direct fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan after nearly three months of relative calm.
Relations between the two countries have deteriorated over Pakistan’s allegations that the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, TTP, operates from Afghan territory.
Kabul has repeatedly rejected the allegations, while Islamabad has carried out previous airstrikes against what it described as militant targets inside Afghanistan.
The two countries fought their worst clashes in years earlier this year, with hundreds of people killed in airstrikes, drone attacks and artillery exchanges before the fighting eased.
