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Agence France-Presse

Pakistan bombed Afghanistan’s cities of 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 social media.
Pakistan’s defence minister declared an “open war” with Kabul while Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said the strikes were a “befitting response to the Afghan Taliban’s open aggression”.

In the Afghan capital, jets and multiple loud blasts, followed by gunfire, could be heard over a period of more than two hours.
A 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.
Deteriorating relations
The border has largely been closed since fighting in October, although Afghan returnees have been allowed to cross.
Mujahid said 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, which 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.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged both sides to protect civilians as required under international law and “to continue to seek to resolve any differences through diplomacy,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Additional reporting by Associated Press


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The air strikes came hours after Afghan forces attacked Pakistani border troops in what the Taliban government said was retaliation


The air strikes came hours after Afghan forces attacked Pakistani border troops in what the Taliban government said was retaliation.


Pakistan declares ‘open war’ with Afghan Taliban after morning strikes on Kabul, Kandahar

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The air strikes came hours after Afghan forces attacked Pakistani border troops in what the Taliban government said was retaliation

The air strikes came hours after Afghan forces attacked Pakistani border troops in what the Taliban government said was retaliation