Afghan Taliban forces targeted “several points” in neighboring Pakistan, Afghanistan’s defense ministry said on Saturday, days after Pakistani aircraft carried out aerial bombardment inside Afghanistan.

Taliban officials described the strikes as retaliation for Pakistan’s airstrikes on Afghan territory earlier this week, which allegedly targeted hideouts of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Pakistan confirmed its airstrikes in Afghanistan, describing them as an intelligence-based operation targeting militant hideouts.

The Pakistani military conducted air raids potentially killed dozens while targeting alleged Pakistani Taliban militants in the rural Paktika Province of Afghanistan Tuesday night.

Hamdullah Fitrat, the deputy spokesman for the Afghan government, said those killed in the strikes that targeted four locations in Barmal, were refugees, adding that six others were also wounded.

A Taliban government official says Pakistan’s airstrikes on eastern Afghanistan killed 46 people, mostly women and children

It is the first public admission by a senior Taliban leader regarding the presence of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan operatives in the country

Officials say rare Pakistani airstrikes have targeted multiple suspected hideouts of the Pakistani Taliban inside neighboring Afghanistan, dismantling a training facility and killing some insurgents.

At least 19 Pakistani soldiers and three Afghan civilians died after heavy clashes erupted between security forces of the two neighbouring nations at the border crossing points, media reports said on Saturday.

Taliban forces struck“ several points” in Pakistan in retaliation for Pakistani attacks on Afghanistan. Afghanistan's Taliban government said on Saturday that it struck "several points" inside neighboring Pakistan.