Skies filled with drones: Strikes begin; Death toll rises PHOTO/VIDEO

Afghan Information Minister Ataullah Tarar said on X that the strikes were “proportionate and strictly limited” to military targets, Reuters reported.

Tarar added that Pakistani air-defense systems detected and neutralized drones launched from Afghan territory on Wednesday before they reached their intended targets.

Pakistani authorities said the latest strikes were carried out in response to activities linked to drone attacks originating from Afghanistan.

Tarar said Pakistani forces carried out “precision airstrikes and drone attacks” and warned that any new “provocative act” by the Afghan Taliban would be met with a response.

The Taliban denied that their government had launched drones at Pakistan.

Taliban chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the Pakistani strikes were carried out in the provinces of Kandahar, Paktia and Khost, and warned that a response would follow.

Tensions between the two countries have escalated this month following an attack on a police facility in northwestern Pakistan in which at least 24 people were killed last week.

Islamabad accuses Kabul of providing shelter to Islamist militants carrying out cross-border attacks, while the Taliban government in Afghanistan denies the accusation and says militancy is an internal problem for Pakistan.

Pakistan said earlier this week that it had carried out airstrikes in the border area, killing 28 militants, while Taliban officials accused Islamabad of killing three civilians in nighttime strikes on Afghan territory.

The most serious single incident occurred in March, when, according to claims by the Afghan Taliban, more than 400 people were killed in a Pakistani airstrike on Kabul.

The Taliban claimed at the time that a drug rehabilitation center had been hit, which Islamabad rejected, saying that military facilities and infrastructure supporting terrorists had been targeted.