Pakistan has bombed Afghanistan's capital Kabul and other cities, as fighting escalated following attacks by Afghan forces on Pakistani military positions along their shared border.
Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Friday that his country's "patience has run out" with the Taliban authorities in neighbouring Afghanistan, and that Pakistan would now wage "open war".
Al Jazeera's correspondent in Kabul reported early Friday that a bombing raid targeted the Afghan capital at 1:50 am local time (21:20 GMT), followed by a second air raid. Afghan anti-aircraft guns returned fire.
An Afghan government source confirmed to Al Jazeera that an air strike hit Kabul, and Pakistani warplanes also struck a military base in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan.
Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar claimed that 133 Afghan Taliban fighters were killed in Pakistan's attacks on Friday, with Taliban positions targeted in Kabul, Kandahar, and Paktia. He said nine Taliban positions were captured and 27 destroyed, adding that Pakistani attacks were continuing.
Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said Afghanistan had launched its own attacks against Pakistani military bases in Kandahar and Helmand in response to the latest Pakistani strikes.
The strikes followed attacks by Afghan forces late Thursday on Pakistani positions on the border. An Afghan military source told Al Jazeera that 10 Pakistani soldiers were killed and 13 outposts captured. The source added that the attacks were a response to Pakistani strikes on Afghan positions in the border region on Sunday.
Pakistan claimed its Sunday attacks killed at least 70 fighters, but Afghanistan rejected the claim, saying civilians had been killed.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which share a 2,611km-long border, have deteriorated sharply since fighting in October killed more than 70 people on both sides. Tensions stem from Pakistani accusations that Kabul allows armed groups like the Pakistani Taliban to use Afghanistan as a base for attacks on Pakistan.
The United Nations has called for urgent de-escalation. Former US ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said the tit-for-tat attacks in recent days were a "terrible dynamic that must stop".
Source: www.aljazeera.com