Pakistan strikes Kabul, Kandahar after Afghan border offensive escalates tensions

The Taliban government confirmed the Pakistani air strikes, with spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid saying there were no casualties.

• Pakistan bombed Kabul and Kandahar after Afghan border attacks
• Both sides reported military strikes and casualties
• Border tensions have escalated with failed peace talks

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Pakistan bombed Afghanistan's cities Kabul and Kandahar on Friday, hours after Afghan forces attacked Pakistani border troops in what the Taliban government said was retaliation for earlier deadly air strikes.

Both militaries said they killed dozens of soldiers in the border violence, which followed multiple Pakistani strikes on Afghanistan and clashes along the frontier in recent months.

"Afghan Taliban defence targets were targeted in Kabul, Paktia (province) and Kandahar," Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar posted on X.

In the Afghan capital, the AFP team heard jets and multiple loud blasts, followed by gunfire, over a period of more than two hours.

An AFP journalist in Afghanistan's southern city of Kandahar, where Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada is based, said he heard jets overhead.

The Taliban government confirmed the Pakistani air strikes, with spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid saying there were no casualties.

Hours earlier, Mujahid announced "large-scale offensive operations" at the border "in response to repeated violations by the Pakistani military".

The Afghan defence ministry reported eight of its soldiers had been killed in the land offensive.

An Afghan official reported multiple civilians wounded near the Torkham border crossing, at a camp for people returning from Pakistan.

"A mortar shell has hit the camp and unfortunately seven of our refugees have been wounded, and the condition of one woman is serious," said Qureshi Badlun, the information chief in Nangarhar province.

The border has largely been closed since fighting in October, although Afghan returnees have been allowed to cross.

Mujahid, the Taliban government spokesman, told AFP that several Pakistani soldiers had been "caught alive", a claim denied by the prime minister's office in Islamabad.

The military operation follows Pakistani strikes on Nangarhar and Paktika provinces overnight into Sunday, which the UN mission in Afghanistan said killed at least 13 civilians.

The Taliban government said at least 18 people were killed and denied Pakistan's announcement that the military operation left more than 80 militants dead.

Both sides also reported cross-border fire on Tuesday, but without casualties.

Relations between the neighbours have plunged in recent months, with land border crossings largely shut since deadly fighting in October that killed more than 70 people on both sides.

Several rounds of negotiations followed an initial ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Turkey, but the efforts have failed to produce a lasting agreement.

Saudi Arabia intervened this month, mediating the release of three Pakistani soldiers captured by Afghanistan in October.

Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of failing to act against militant groups that carry out attacks in Pakistan, which the Taliban government denies.

Pakistan's military launched its air strikes on Afghanistan days ago following a series of deadly suicide blasts.

They included an attack on a Shiite mosque in Islamabad that killed at least 40 people and was claimed by the Islamic State group.

The militant group's regional chapter, Islamic State-Khorasan, also claimed a deadly suicide bombing at a restaurant in Kabul last month.