ISLAMABAD: Tensions along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border escalated overnight after Pakistani security sources said the Pakistan Air Force carried out retaliatory airstrikes in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, destroying what officials described as a major weapons depot.

A senior government official said Friday that the operation followed alleged unprovoked firing by Taliban forces on Pakistani check posts. According to security sources, the strikes are part of “Operation Ghazab-ul-Haq,” launched in response to cross-border attacks.

Officials claimed that 133 Taliban personnel were killed and more than 200 wounded during the retaliatory action. The prime minister’s spokesperson for foreign media, Musharraf Zaidi, said early Friday that Pakistani forces were targeting militant hideouts inside Afghanistan and had destroyed 27 Taliban posts while taking control of nine others.

Authorities further stated that military targets in Kabul, Paktia and Kandahar were hit, including corps and brigade headquarters, ammunition depots and a logistics base. More than 80 tanks and armored vehicles were reportedly disabled.

Information Minister Ataullah Tarar said Afghan Taliban forces initiated the escalation and later spread “false propaganda” on social media. Pakistani officials reported two soldiers killed and three wounded.

Taliban authorities in Kabul have not issued an official response. The situation remains tense.