Pakistan on Thursday confirmed that it carried out strikes targeting militants' hideouts in Afghanistan, amid strong protest from the Afghan leadership, which condemned it as a "brutal act".

The first cross-border strike inside Afghanistan since March came after a spate of attacks by the Pakistani Taliban.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Pakistan’s airstrikes on eastern Afghanistan killed 46 people, mostly women and children, a Taliban government official said Wednesday, raising fears of further straining the relations between the two neighbors.

Pakistan air strikes in an eastern border region of Afghanistan killed 46 civilians, the Taliban government said Wednesday, whilst a Pakistan security official said the bombardment had targeted "terrorist hideouts".

The death count in the bombardment by Pakistani military aircraft in Afghanistan's eastern Paktika province on Tuesday mounted to 46. The Taliban government said most of the victims were children and women.

Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch in a weekly briefing on Thursday confirmed that Pakistani conducted airstrikes in Afghanistan and killed terrorists on the solid evidence and operation-based action.

Officials say rare Pakistani airstrikes have targeted multiple suspected hideouts of the Pakistani Taliban inside neighboring Afghanistan, dismantling a training facility and killing some insurgents.

Pakistani jets bombed 4 locations in Paktika’s Barmal district, killing 46 people and injuring 6, says deputy spokesman for interim Taliban administration - Anadolu Ajansı

Pakistan has carried out air strikes on eastern Afghanistan, killing 46 civilians, the Taliban regime said on Wednesday.

Pakistan air strikes in an eastern border province of Afghanistan killed 46 people, the Taliban government spokesman told AFP on Wednesday.