Pakistan has carried out air strikes on eastern Afghanistan, killing 46 civilians, the Taliban regime said on Wednesday.

The Taliban condemned the strikes, which it claimed killed mostly women and children, as an example of “clear aggression” from its neighbour and pledged to retaliate.

A Pakistan security official told AFP that the bombardment across the border late on Tuesday had targeted “terrorist hideouts” and described the reports of civilians killed as “baseless”.

The aerial attacks were the latest spike in hostilities on the frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan after deadly strikes in March.

Pakistan has been battling a resurgence of militant violence in its western border regions since the Taliban’s 2021 return to power in Afghanistan.

Islamabad has accused Kabul’s Taliban authorities of harbouring militant fighters, allowing them to strike on Pakistani soil with impunity – which Kabul has denied.

Zabihullah Mujahid, Taliban government spokesman, told AFP that 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.