ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said Thursday its airstrikes destroyed militant hideouts in Afghanistan and initial reports indicated 22 militants were killed, while Kabul said nine people, including women and children, had perished in strikes on houses.

The strikes follow Pakistani aerial attacks in Afghanistan last week that Islamabad said targeted militant hideouts in retaliation for drone attacks. Kabul denied launching the drones and reported civilian deaths. The renewed fighting has ended three months of relative calm.

Relations between the neighbors have soured as attacks by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, commonly known as the Pakistani Taliban, have riser in Pakistan, with Islamabad accusing Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities of providing the group shelter. The armed outfit is separate from Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban and regularly attacks Pakistani security forces and government targets. Kabul denies providing sanctuary and says militancy is Pakistan’s internal problem.

On Thursday, Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said intelligence-led strikes targeted two locations used by armed groups and destroyed weapons and ammunition. It did not identify the locations.

“Targets were destroyed with precision and initial reports suggest killing of twenty two terrorists,” the ministry said in a statement on X.

It said the strikes continued Pakistan’s cross-border military campaign, known as Ghazab lil Haq, and targeted camps linked to groups it calls Fitna al Khwarij and Fitna al Hindustan. These are government labels for the Pakistani Taliban and militant organizations operating in the southwestern Balochistan and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces with backing by Kabul and New Delhi. Both deny the charge.

“Maximum precautions were taken and it was ensured that no collateral damage occurs,” the Pakistani ministry said.

Taliban government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid gave a different account, saying the strikes destroyed three houses in Kunar and Helmand provinces, killing nine people and injuring 11. Women and children were among those killed, he said.

“We condemn this act as an aggression and crime in violation of all accepted principles,” Mujahid said in a post on X.

Neither side’s casualty figures nor their differing accounts of the targets could be independently verified.

Thursday’s strikes also follow a separate exchange of accusations over fighting in Afghanistan’s northeastern Nuristan province.

Afghanistan’s defense ministry alleged that fighters, including Daesh members, crossed from Pakistan with Islamabad’s support. It said its forces killed 41 fighters and captured 62 in Nuristan’s Kamdesh district between Sunday and Tuesday. Those figures and allegations of Pakistani involvement could not be independently confirmed.

Pakistan rejected the allegations on Wednesday after Noorullah Noori, the Taliban’s minister for borders and tribal affairs, warned its military and intelligence services against testing Afghans’ patience.

Islamabad had already denied recruiting or training former Afghan security personnel or facilitating Daesh and other militant groups operating in Afghanistan.

With additional inputs from Reuters