At least ten civilians, including two children, were killed and twelve others wounded after a Pakistani airstrike hit a border province of Paktika in eastern Afghanistan, local officials confirmed on Friday evening.

According to AnsarPress, Mina Azimi, an official at the Paktika Regional Hospital, said the airstrike occurred late Friday afternoon, killing ten civilians and injuring twelve others in Argun District, a rural area along the Afghan-Pakistani frontier.

"Two children are among the dead," the hospital official said, adding that the number of casualties may rise as more victims are brought in from remote villages.

Earlier, security sources had reported that seven Pakistani soldiers were killed in a suicide bombing near the Afghan border, an attack that likely prompted the retaliatory airstrike.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) - the media wing of the Pakistani military - later confirmed in a statement that Pakistan conducted counterterrorism operations against the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) between October 13 and 15.
According to the statement:

"Eighteen militants were killed in Spinwam, eight in South Waziristan, and another eight in Bannu."

This week has witnessed one of the deadliest military escalations in two decades along the Afghan-Pakistani border. The clashes erupted following airstrikes last Thursday that struck Kabul and Paktika Province.

The Taliban government condemned the bombings as "unprecedented, violent, and reprehensible attacks" carried out by Pakistan on Afghan soil.

While Islamabad has not formally claimed responsibility, during a press conference on Friday, Major General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, a senior Pakistani military spokesperson, stated that there is "evidence that Afghanistan is being used as an operational base for conducting terrorism inside Pakistan."

The ongoing escalation highlights a dangerous spiral of cross-border violence between the two neighbors - with civilian populations increasingly caught in the crossfire of retaliatory operations, drone strikes, and militant attacks along one of South Asia`s most volatile frontiers.