Zabihullah Majahid

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Majahid said on X that Pakistan conducted airstrikes, including one in the eastern province of Khos that killed nine children and a woman.

It came after a suicide bomber killed three officers outside the headquarters of a paramilitary unit in the Pakistani city of Peshawar.

It also follows a suicide bombing outside a courthouse in the capital Islamabad that killed 12 people.

A group called Jamaat al-Ahrar claim responsibility for both attacks.

Pakistan accuses the Taliban of sheltering the group.

A previous similar escalation led to clashes between the two sides in border areas and Pakistan bombing the Afghan capital Kabul.

Those October clashes ended in a ceasefire, but attempts to cement it collapsed.

Dear Hadid, NPR News, Mumbai.