Pakistan launches airstrikes on Afghan Taliban facilities

Pakistan launched airstrikes on Taliban facilities in Afghanistan, destroying key targets including an ammunition depot in Nangarhar province, a security source told Xinhua on Friday morning.

According to the source, Pakistan conducted the airstrikes as part of the Operation Ghazab Lil Haq (Wrath of Justice), which was launched after Afghan Taliban started attacks on Pakistani posts at the border on Thursday evening.

"One major ammunition depot, three Afghan battalions, and a sector headquarters were completely destroyed," said the source, adding that more than 36 tanks, artillery guns, and armored personnel carriers were also destroyed.

Mosharraf Zaidi, the prime minister's spokesperson, said in a statement that 72 Afghan militants were killed, more than 120 were injured, 16 posts were destroyed, and seven Afghan posts were captured in retaliatory attacks by Pakistani forces.

Earlier, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar said in a statement that at least two Pakistani soldiers were killed and three others injured after Afghan Taliban opened fire on Pakistani posts along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

The minister said that security forces had launched an immediate and effective response and the country would take all necessary measures to ensure its territorial integrity and safeguard the safety and security of its citizens.

Local sources told Xinhua that at least one woman was killed and five others were injured after mortar shells fired from the Afghanistan side fell in the residential area in the Lagharai area of the Bajaur district in the country's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.