Kabul [Afghanistan], September 24 : Afghanistan on Thursday warned of "dire consequences" following Pakistani aerial and drone strikes on Afghan territory, with Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid saying four people were killed in the latest attacks.
In a statement posted on X, Mujahid said the Pakistani military had carried out attacks and aerial bombings in the Afghan provinces of Kandahar, Paktia and Khost.
"Last night the Pakistani military regime once again trespassed into the Afghan provinces of Kandahar, Paktia, and Khost, carrying out attacks and aerial bombings," he said.
He said four Afghans were killed in what he described as an attack by Pakistan, while strongly condemning the strikes.
"In this criminal aggression, four of our fellow Afghan compatriots have been martyred. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan strongly condemns these blind and cowardly attacks in the harshest terms, considering them a flagrant violation of all principles, a blatant aggression, and a crime," the statement read.
Mujahid said Afghanistan would respond to what he described as repeated Pakistani aggression and rejected the justification offered by Pakistan for the latest strikes, referring to Islamabad's claim that unmanned aerial vehicles had crossed into Pakistan from Afghanistan.
"The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan assures its people that in response to these aggressions and shameless rebellions by the Pakistani military regime, it will adopt a resolute stance and deliver an appropriate response, God willing," he said.
"To justify such a brazen violation and blatant injustice, Pakistan's military circles yesterday spread a rumour that apparently unmanned aerial vehicles had crossed over from Afghanistan toward them. They also, once again, to justify their failures in addressing their internal problems, carried out an airstrike on the soil of Afghanistan," the spokesperson added.
Mujahid warned that further such actions could lead to serious consequences.
"Such reckless, imprudent, and hostile actions will undoubtedly ignite the anger of the Afghan nation and will have dire consequences for Pakistani military personnel," he added.
The Afghan statement came after Pakistan said it had conducted precision aerial and drone strikes at 10 locations across Afghanistan earlier on Thursday.
Islamabad said the operation was carried out in response to drones that it said had been launched from Afghan territory a day earlier.
Pakistan Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the strikes targeted locations allegedly used to launch and store drones and described the action as an exercise of Pakistan's right to self-defence.
“In exercise of its sovereign right to self-defence, Pakistan conducted precision aerial and drone strikes against 10 locations in Afghanistan used for launching and storing these drones,” Tarar wrote on X, as reported by Dawn.
Tarar maintained that the strikes were restricted to military objectives directly linked to the alleged attacks against Pakistan.
He said the strikes were “deliberate, precise, calibrated and proportionate, and strictly limited to identified military objectives directly linked to the attempted attacks against Pakistan”.
The Pakistani minister described the reported drone incursion on Wednesday as “deliberate and unlawful” and a “blatant violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
Pakistan also said its air defence systems had intercepted the drones before they could reach their intended targets.
Tarar said the systems had “detected, tracked and neutralised all intruding platforms before they could reach any of their intended targets, comprehensively thwarting the attempted attack”.
According to security sources cited by Dawn, eight drones launched from Afghanistan entered Pakistani airspace near the Torkham border and Kohat on Wednesday and were subsequently shot down.
The latest exchange follows another round of Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan earlier this week.
Mujahid had on Monday vowed an "appropriate response" after Pakistani airstrikes in Kunar and Paktika provinces, accusing Pakistan's military of targeting civilian areas.
He said three civilians were killed and four wounded in Kunar, while a house and a local shop were damaged in Paktika, with no casualties reported in that incident.
TOLOnews, citing local sources, had reported that Pakistani fighter jets carried out strikes in several parts of Afghanistan early Monday. The report said the Rakha and Torkandi areas of Barmal district in Paktika were targeted in separate strikes, while a separate strike in Kunar reportedly killed three people and injured several others.
The latest developments come amid continuing cross-border hostilities between Afghanistan and Pakistan, with the two sides presenting competing accounts of the military actions and alleged attacks originating from each other's territory.