Taliban said on Monday that 36 civilians, including women and children, were killed and 163 others wounded in Pakistani airstrikes that struck three eastern provinces overnight.
In a statement, Taliban deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said the casualties occurred in Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces after Pakistani military aircraft targeted residential areas.
According to the statement, the deadliest strike occurred in Mandokhail village in Samkani district of Paktia province.
It added that a civilian house was initially hit, killing an elderly man and a child and wounding other family members. They alleged that Pakistani aircraft struck the area again as villagers gathered to rescue survivors, killing 28 residents and injuring 158 others.
In Walust village in Gayan district of Paktika, Taliban said six civilians—most of them women and children—were killed after another residential house was bombed.
In Barolo village in Manogai district of Kunar province, a civilian house was destroyed but no casualties were reported, according to the statement.
Taliban said three residential houses were completely destroyed in the attacks.
Pakistan has rejected accusations that it targeted civilians.
In a statement issued earlier, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the strikes were conducted under Operation Ghazab-ul-Haq and targeted hideouts used by Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar.
Tarar said Pakistani forces killed 25 members of the two militant groups, destroyed three militant sites and eliminated what he described as terrorist safe havens. He said the operation was launched in response to recent militant attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Sindh, including an attack on a Pakistan Rangers camp in Karachi that Pakistan blamed on the TTP and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar.
The casualty claims by both sides could not be independently verified.
The strikes mark the second Pakistani cross-border operation in Afghanistan this month.
On June 11, Pakistan carried out airstrikes in Khost, Kunar and Paktika provinces, saying it had targeted militant hideouts. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) later confirmed that 13 civilians were killed in those strikes.
Pakistan has repeatedly said the Taliban have allowed TTP fighters to operate from Afghan territory, an allegation the Taliban deny, insisting they do not permit any group to use Afghanistan to threaten neighboring countries.
This comes as relations between the Taliban and Pakistan have deteriorated sharply in recent years over border security, cross-border militancy and competing accusations of harboring armed groups.
