SOURCE: AP
Pakistani airstrikes targeted multiple suspected hideouts of the Pakistani Taliban inside neighboring Afghanistan early on Monday, killing at least eight people and drawing return fire from the Afghan Taliban, officials said.
The latest escalation is likely to further increase tensions between Islamabad and Kabul. The Pakistani strikes came two days after insurgents killed seven soldiers in a suicide bombing and coordinated attack in northwestern Pakistan.
The Afghan Taliban denounced the strikes as an aggression on Afghanistan’s territorial integrity, saying they killed several women and children. The defense ministry in Kabul said Afghan forces later on Monday “targeted Pakistan’s military centers along the border with heavy weapons,” without providing details.
The Pakistani strikes were carried out in Khost and Paktika provinces bordering Pakistan, according to a Pakistani security official and an intelligence official. The officials provided no further details and spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.