KABUL – Tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan have escalated as the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan accused Pakistan of conducting airstrikes in three eastern provinces overnight. The reported attacks resulted in the deaths of 10 civilians, including nine children, highlighting the growing strain between the neighboring countries.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the main spokesperson for the Afghan administration, announced on X that a Pakistani strike targeted a civilian residence in Khost province, claiming the lives of nine children and a woman. He also mentioned that additional airstrikes occurred in Kunar and Paktika provinces, leaving four people injured.

Labeling the actions as “atrocities,” Mujahid condemned the strikes as an infringement on Afghan sovereignty. In his X post, he asserted Afghanistan’s right to protect its airspace and land, emphasizing the nation’s commitment to defending its citizens and promising a timely response to such violations.

The Pakistani military and government have yet to respond to these allegations. This incident surfaces shortly after previous cross-border conflicts in which the Afghan government accused Pakistan of carrying out drone strikes in Kabul.

Despite these tensions, a ceasefire facilitated by Qatar and Turkey in October remains in effect as of Tuesday, even in light of the alleged Pakistani strikes deep within Afghanistan. Qatar and Turkey have not issued any statements regarding the incident.

Iran in recent weeks has also offered to play a role in defusing tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said Tuesday on X that he met with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar in Islamabad, a day after arriving on a previously scheduled visit. Dar’s office was also expected to release a statement about the meeting.

The latest escalation follows a deadly attack a day earlier in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar, where two suicide bombers and a gunman stormed the headquarters of the Federal Constabulary. Three officers were killed, and 11 others were wounded in the Monday morning attack.

No group has claimed responsibility for the Peshawar attack, but suspicion quickly fell on the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

It is a separate group but closely allied with the Afghan Taliban, and many of its leaders are believed to be hiding in Afghanistan. Kabul in 2022 brokered a brief ceasefire between the TTP and Pakistan. However, the militant group ended the truce after accusing Pakistan of violating it.

Pakistan has intensified intelligence-based operations against militants in recent weeks.

On Tuesday, the military said security forces killed 22 militants during a raid on what it described as a hideout of “Indian-backed” fighters in Bannu, a district in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border.

In a statement, the army referred to the killed insurgents as Khawarij, a term the government and the military use for militants they allege are supported by Afghanistan and India. Kabul and New Delhi deny providing any support to such groups.

The statement said Pakistan “will continue at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism from the country.”

Pakistan has repeatedly urged Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to prevent TTP militants from using Afghan territory to launch attacks. Kabul denies the accusation, but relations further deteriorated after Afghanistan blamed Pakistan for the Oct. 9 drone strikes on its capital and threatened retaliation.

The clashes that followed killed dozens of soldiers, civilians and militants before the sides agreed to the Oct. 19 ceasefire.

Two subsequent rounds of talks in Istanbul failed to resolve the dispute, when Pakistan said Afghanistan had refused to provide a written guarantee that TTP fighters would not operate from Afghan soil.

The Afghan government insists it does not allow anyone to use its soil for attacks against any country, including Pakistan.

The lingering tensions have stalled bilateral trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan, with all border crossings between the two neighbors remaining shut since last month. It has also affected movement of people, as residents from both sides have been unable to travel to meet with relatives and friends since early October.

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Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writer Riaz Khan in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this story.