A spokesman for the Taliban`s Defense Ministry claimed on Thursday that 41 Pakistani soldiers had been killed and 53 others wounded in fighting over the past 24 hours along the border.

Sediqullah Nusrat said Taliban forces carried out attacks overnight on Pakistani military outposts along border areas in Kandahar, Nangarhar, Kunar, Nuristan, Khost, Paktika and Paktia provinces, in southern and eastern Afghanistan.

He also said Taliban forces conducted what he described as an airstrike on a Pakistani military base in Balochistan at about 8 a.m. Thursday, March 5.

According to him, the attacks destroyed 12 Pakistani military posts and shot down three Pakistani reconnaissance drones during the past day.

This is while Clashes between Taliban forces and Pakistani troops entered an eighth day on Thursday, with reports of scattered fighting across several eastern and southeastern provinces of Afghanistan and renewed airstrikes by Pakistan.

Local sources told that overnight and early morning clashes were reported in parts of Khost, Paktia, Paktika, Kunar, Nangarhar and Kandahar provinces in eastern Afghanistan. The engagements were described as sporadic exchanges of fire along sections of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Sources in Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province in south said Pakistani strikes there killed four civilians, including three women.

The latest incidents follow reports from Taliban local officials a day earlier that Pakistani forces had fired dozens of artillery rounds into Kunar within a 24-hour period. According to those officials, 82 shells struck Sarkano district, 15 hit Dangam district and four landed in Shultan district.

The Taliban-run state broadcaster, RTA, also reported that Taliban forces had carried out retaliatory airstrikes against what it described as Pakistani Frontier Corps command centers in Kuchlak and Quetta, claiming heavy casualties among Pakistani troops.

Pakistani officials have maintained that their operations are aimed at militant groups operating from Afghanistan`s territory. Tariq Fazal, Pakistan`s federal minister for parliamentary affairs, said Islamabad would continue its military campaign until its objectives were achieved.

"In terrorist operations in Pakistan, Afghan citizens are involved and Afghan soil is used against Pakistan," he said. "In Operation Ghazab-ul-Haq, terrorists are being targeted, and the operation will continue until the defined objectives are achieved."

The United Nations has expressed concern about the impact of the fighting on civilians. Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary general, said cross-border shelling and airstrikes had caused civilian casualties and damage to homes.

"In Afghanistan, reports indicate that cross-border clashes and airstrikes have caused civilian casualties and damage to houses," Dujarric said at a news briefing. He added that in Nangarhar, shelling near the Torkham border crossing wounded five civilians, including children, while another mortar strike in Nazyan district injured two people and damaged residential homes.

Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Taliban of allowing Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants to operate from Afghan territory and carry out attacks inside Pakistan. Taliban have denied those accusations.

After eight days of clashes, both sides have issued sharply different claims about the toll of the fighting. Pakistan`s military says its operations have killed more than 350 Taliban members, while Taliban officials claim over 150 Pakistani soldiers have been killed and that several Pakistani border outposts have been captured.