Pakistani strikes kill at least 28 civilians in Afghanistan, UN says

At least 28 civilians were killed after Pakistan launched air strikes and sent ground troops into Afghan provinces along its border on Sunday, the United Nations Afghan mission has said.

A further 49 were injured and women and children were among the victims, according to Unama.

Afghanistan's Taliban government said civilian homes were hit and described the attack as a "cowardly act" and an "atrocity".

Meanwhile, Pakistan said it had targeted militant hideouts in Afghanistan's Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces.

The neighbouring countries agreed to a ceasefire last October following weeks of deadly clashes - an agreement that has since fallen apart.

Casualties were concentrated in Mandokhail, a village in the Paktia province, according to Taliban officials.

Adam Khan, 63, told AFP news agency he "cannot put into words the condition of the children I saw at the hospital, or the screams of their parents and siblings".

Those killed in one of the strikes included "children, elderly people and women" sleeping in a house, he said.

Afghanistan's Taliban government put the civilian death toll at 36 and said more than 160 had been injured.

Pakistan's information minister Attaullah Tarar said 29 militants had been killed in an operation responding to "recent terrorist attacks against innocent people".

The BBC has not independently confirmed figures from either side.

The attacks come a day after three members of the Sindh Rangers, a Pakistani paramilitary force, were killed at their headquarters in Karachi, according to Pakistan's military. Three militants also died in the suicide attack, and Pakistani officials said they had arrested a fourth, who was an Afghan.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter faction of the TTP, claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack.

Both the TTP, also known as the Pakistan Taliban, and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar are banned in Pakistan, and by the UN, because of their involvement in past attacks.

Pakistan has long accused Afghanistan of harbouring terror groups that carry out cross-border attacks, a claim the Taliban government rejects.

Kabul, in turn, has accused Islamabad of carrying out unprovoked attacks which kill civilians. Pakistan says it only targets militants.

Intermittent border clashes and air strikes in the border area have killed dozens of people in recent months, according to officials in both countries.

In February, clashes between the two countries left dozens of people dead. In March, a Pakistani strike on a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul killed hundreds.

Earlier in June, Pakistan launched deadly air strikes that killed 26 militants. Afghanistan's Taliban government said 13 people, mostly children, were also killed in the strikes.