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Taliban says ceasefire 'broken' after Pakistan launches airstrikes in Afghanistan's Paktika

The airstrikes came hours after Afghanistan and Pakistan mutually agreed to extend the earlier 48-hour ceasefire during a meeting in Doha, Qatar

AFP

After Pakistan carried out fresh airstrikes in Afghanistan's Paktika, a top Taliban official said the ceasefire between the two sides have been "broken".

"Pakistan has broken the ceasefire and bombed three locations in Paktika. Afghanistan will retaliate," the official told AFP.

This development comes hours after Afghanistan and Pakistan mutually agreed to extend the 48-hour ceasefire during a meeting in Doha, Qatar.

The airstrikes in Argun and Bermal districts damaged houses on the Durand Line border between the two countries. It is not confirmed if there are any casualties.

Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Friday said Islamabad can no longer afford ties with Afghanistan like in the past, threatening to extract a heavy price.

"All Afghans residing on Pakistani soil must return to their homeland; they now have their own government and caliphate in Kabul...Our land and resources belong to 250 million Pakistanis," he said.

"There will no longer be protest notes or appeals for peace; no delegations will go to Kabul. Wherever the source of terrorism lies, it will have to pay a heavy price," Asif said.

He also alleged that Afghanistan has become a "proxy of India", conspiring against Pakistan. "The rulers of Kabul, who are now sitting in India's lap and conspiring against Pakistan, were once under our protection, hiding on our land," he said.

Seven Pakistani soldiers were killed in a suicide attack on a Pakistani military camp in north Waziristan, which also left 13 injured, near the Afghanistan border on Friday. Six militants were killed in the suicide attack, the office of Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a statement.