PAKISTAN denied today that it had been responsible for launching a deadly overnight strike in three eastern provinces of Afghanistan.

Hours earlier, chief Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid wrote on X that Pakistan had “bombed” the home of a civilian in Khost province, killing nine children and a woman. 

He also claimed additional strikes were carried out in the Afghan provinces of Kunar and Paktika, injuring four people.

Mr Mujahid described the attacks as “atrocities” and said the strikes had been “a violation of Afghan territory.” Afghanistan “considers the use of its air space and territory and defence of its people to be its legitimate right and, at the appropriate time, it will give the necessary response,” he said.

Afghanistan’s report of new strikes came more than a month after cross-border clashes erupted in the wake of Afghan government claims that Pakistani drone strikes had hit Kabul.

However, Pakistani military spokesperson Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry denied the Afghan government’s claim today.

Pakistan does not target and kill civilians, he said, stating that strikes carried out in October had targeted the hideouts of Pakistani Taliban members who were behind the surge of violence in the country.

“We announce and acknowledge whenever we carry out such strikes,” he said during a news briefing in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.

The ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Turkey in October still held today, despite the reported strikes. 

Local tribal leader Mer Adam Khan said the attack had been carried out by a drone flying over the area at around midnight. 

“It is not known where it came from and by whom,” he said, adding that the home that was destroyed was that of a local man called Shariat Khan.

“He has not interfered with any government. He lives a poor life here,” the tribal leader said.

The latest escalation follows a deadly attack a day earlier in Pakistan’s north-western 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 morning attack.

No group claimed responsibility for the Peshawar attack, but suspicion quickly fell on the Pakistani Taliban, known in full as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Mr Chaudhry said the three attackers were Afghan nationals who sneaked into the country from the Tirah border region in the north-west.