Kabul: Pakistan air strikes in an eastern border province of Afghanistan killed 46 people, the Taliban government spokesman told AFP on Wednesday, as the defence ministry vowed retaliation.
The strikes were the latest spike in hostilities on the frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan, with border tensions between the two countries escalating since the Taliban government seized power in 2021.
Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said late Tuesday, Pakistan bombarded four areas in the Barmal district of eastern Paktika province.
"The total number of dead is 46, most of whom were children and women," he said, adding that six more people were wounded, mostly children.
A defence ministry statement late Tuesday condemned the strikes, calling them "barbaric" and a "clear aggression".
"The Islamic Emirate will not leave this cowardly act unanswered, but rather considers the defence of its territory and sovereignty to be its inalienable right," the statement said, using the Taliban authorities' name for the government.
Skirmishes on the frontier followed deadly air strikes in March by Pakistan's military in the border regions of Afghanistan, which Taliban authorities said killed eight civilians.
A Barmal resident, Maleel, told AFP Tuesday's strikes killed 18 members of one family.
"The bombardment hit two or three houses, in one house, 18 people were killed, the whole family lost their lives," he said.
He said a strike killed three people in another house and wounded several others, who were taken to hospital.
Taliban officials said the dead were local residents and people who had fled over the Pakistan border from Waziristan.
The strike comes after the Pakistani Taliban -- who are known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and share a common ideology with their Afghan counterparts -- last week claimed a raid on an army outpost near the border with Afghanistan, which Pakistani intelligence officials said killed 16 soldiers.
There has been no official comment from Pakistani authorities on the latest strike in Afghan territory.
Earlier Tuesday, high-level Taliban officials were meeting with Pakistan's special envoy for Afghanistan who was on a visit to Kabul.
