Pakistan launched extensive airstrikes early Friday targeting military positions across Afghanistan in response to "retaliatory operations" by Afghan forces as tensions continued to escalate along their border.

The fresh airstrikes, confirmed by Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, came after Afghanistan launched border attacks against Pakistan over airstrikes Sunday by Islamabad inside Afghanistan which left many dead.

Mujahid said that no casualties had been reported as multiple large-scale explosions were reported in the capital Kabul, according to local sources.

Information obtained by an Anadolu correspondent from sources in the capital indicated that several explosions occurred in the city center around 2.30 am local time (2200GMT Thursday).

Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry said at least eight Afghan soldiers were killed Thursday in the border clashes while Kabul also claimed that 55 Pakistani soldiers were killed.

Pakistan confirmed the loss of two soldiers.

Later, the Afghan Defense Ministry announced an end to the four-hour "retaliatory operations" at midnight local time (1930GMT Thursday), against Pakistani positions along the Durand Line.

- Pakistan confirms continued military action

Confirming continued military action, Mosharraf Zaidi, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s spokesperson for foreign media, said Pakistani counterstrikes against targets in Afghanistan were ongoing as of early Friday.

He said 133 Afghan soldiers had been killed and more than 200 wounded, with additional casualties expected following the strikes on military targets in Kabul, Paktia and Kandahar provinces.

Zaidi added that 27 Afghan military posts had been destroyed and nine captured, while multiple military facilities, including two corps headquarters, three brigade headquarters, ammunition depots, a logistics base and battalion and sector headquarters as well as more than 80 tanks, artillery systems and armored vehicles were destroyed.

Anadolu could not independently confirm the claims made by the two sides against each other.

He said Pakistan’s “immediate and effective response to aggression continues.”

Pakistan’s Defense Minister Asif Khawaja alleged that the Afghan government had "turned Afghanistan into a colony of India" since the withdrawal of NATO forces in 2021 from the war-torn nation.

Criticizing Kabul for "exporting terrorism," he said: "They deprived their own people of basic human rights," according to a statement on the US social media company X’s platform.

The Afghan government was yet to react to Khawaja's statement.

​​​​​​​- Escalating cross-border tensions

The strikes came amid escalating cross-border tensions between the two countries.

It follows Sunday’s airstrikes by Pakistan that Islamabad said killed 70 “terrorists,” while Afghan officials and the UN reported civilian deaths, claims Pakistan denies.

Relations have deteriorated in recent months as Pakistan accuses militants of operating from Afghan territory, an allegation Kabul rejects, even as diplomatic contacts continue amid efforts to ease tensions. (AA)