At least 8 people including women and children were killed in Pakistan's airstrikes on Khost and Paktia provinces in the early hours on Monday.

The Islamic Emirate said such airstrikes are a clear violation of Afghanistan's territory.

The Ministry of Defense said that the Islamic Emirate forces responded to Pakistan with heavy weapons.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan strongly condemns these strikes and calls the unconsidered act an invasion of its territory, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has the experience of a long struggle for freedom against the superpowers of the world and cannot tolerate any kind of invasion of its territory,” said Hamdullah Fitrat, the deputy spokesman of the Islamic Emirate.
 
Pakistani media reported that the strikes in Khost and Paktika targeted some Tehreek-e- Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants including Abdullah Shah; but soon after the TTP commander Abdullah Shah in a video clip denied being attacked despite Pakistani media claims of his death in last night's airstrikes in Paktika's Barmal District.

“The propaganda being spread is baseless. It's March 18th. Our operations in Southern Waziristan are ongoing. We haven't left; we're still here,” he said.
 
The deputy spokesman of the Islamic Emirate, Hamdullah Fitrat, also denied Pakistan’s claims about the death of Abdullah Shah in the airstrikes, and said they led to the death of civilians. 

At the same time, TTP in a statement condemned Pakistan's airstrikes on Afghan soil and said that the displaced people of Waziristan were targeted in these attacks.

After the airstrikes a military confrontation between the Islamic Emirate and Pakistani soldiers started in the Dand-e-Patan district of Paktia, the Tanai district of Khost and the Barmal district of Paktika, according to sources.

Kharlachi crossing in Dand-e-Patan was also blocked. 

“Pakistan bombarded Barmal district of Paktika and we ask the world to stop this bombing and six children and women were killed in this bombing,” said Amir Mohammad, a resident of Paktika. 

Previously, the spokesman of the Ministry of Interior told TOLOnews that nearly 50 border clashes occurred in the past two year with Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan and that most occurred with Pakistan.