At least nine children and a woman have been killed after Pakistani forces bombed a house in the country’s southeastern Khost province, according to Afghan authorities.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesman for the Taliban administration, said on Tuesday that the attack took place at midnight (19:30 GMT) in the Gurbuz district of Khost province.

The latest attack risks triggering renewed hostilities and comes as a fragile ceasefire between the two nations hangs by a thread, with each side blaming the other for the impasse in the negotiations.

“The Pakistani invading forces bombed the house of a local civilian resident, Waliat Khan, son of Qazi Mir,” Mujahid wrote in a post on X.

“As a result, nine children [five boys and four girls] and one woman were martyred, and his house was destroyed,” he added.

Other air strikes took place in northeastern Kunar and eastern Paktika provinces, Mujahid said, wounding at least four civilians.

There was no immediate comment from Pakistan.

The bombardment in Afghanistan comes a day after a suicide attack that targeted the headquarters of Pakistan’s paramilitary Federal Constabulary force in Peshawar.

The Jamaat-ul-Ahrar – which is a splinter group of the Pakistan Taliban, known by the acronym TTP – claimed responsibility for that attack.

State broadcaster PTV reported the attackers were Afghan nationals, and President Asif Zardari blamed the “foreign-backed Fitna al-Khawarij” – Islamabad’s term for the TTP fighters it accuses of operating from Afghan soil.

Another suicide attack in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, earlier this month killed at least 12 people and was also claimed by a faction of the Pakistan Taliban. Pakistan blamed a cell that was “guided at every step by the … high command based in Afghanistan” for the attack on the capital.

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been fraught since the Taliban swept back to power in 2021, and worsened after deadly border clashes in October that killed about 70 people on both sides.

The fighting ended with a ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Turkiye, but talks in Istanbul failed to produce a lasting deal, with security issues, especially Pakistan’s demand that Kabul curb TTP fighters proving a sticking point.

Pakistan accuses the Taliban of sheltering fighters behind a surge in attacks, including the TTP, which has waged a bloody campaign against the country for years.

Afghanistan denies the charge and counters that Pakistan harbours groups hostile to the country and does not respect its sovereignty.