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Afghanistan’s Taliban regime said they have carried out strikes on targets along the border with Pakistan, injuring several people in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province.<\/p>\n
Pakistan’s military said it had shot down four rudimentary drones and warned any further provocation “would receive a befitting response”. The BBC has been unable to independently confirm the attack.<\/p>\n
The strikes come after Pakistan launched its own airstrikes on Afghanistan on Sunday, killing 28 civilians, according to the UN.<\/p>\n
Tensions have reignited in the region after months of relative calm. The two countries had agreed to a ceasefire in October following weeks of deadly clashes.<\/p>\n
Pakistan has long accused Afghanistan of harbouring terrorists who carry out attacks on its soil, a claim the Taliban government rejects.<\/p>\n
Kabul in turn has accused Islamabad of carrying out unprovoked attacks which kill civilians. Pakistan says it only targets militants.<\/p>\n
Afghanistan said Pakistan’s attack on Sunday hit civilian homes and put the civilian death toll at 36, with more than 160 injured.<\/p>\n
It described the attack as a “cowardly act” and an “atrocity”.<\/p>\n
Pakistan said it had carried out a ground operation along the border and air strikes targeting militant hideouts in Afghanistan’s Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces.<\/p>\n
The country’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, said 29 militants had been killed in an operation responding to “recent terrorist attacks against innocent people”.<\/p>\n
The BBC has not independently confirmed figures from either side.<\/p>\n
Intermittent border clashes and air strikes in the area have killed dozens of people in recent months, according to officials in both countries.<\/p>\n
In February, clashes between the two countries left dozens of people dead. In March, a Pakistani strike on a drug rehabilitation centre<\/a> in Kabul killed hundreds.<\/p>\n