ISLAMABAD –
Pakistani airstrikes targeted multiple suspected hideouts of the Pakistani Taliban inside neighbouring 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 defence ministry in Kabul said Afghan forces later on Monday “targeted Pakistan’s military centres along the border with heavy weapons,” without providing details.
The Pakistani strikes were carried out in Khost and Paktika provinces bordering Pakistan, according to two Pakistani security and intelligence officials. The officials provided no further …