KABUL - Explosions were heard in the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday, AFP journalists said, with the Taliban government saying they were responding to aerial Pakistan attacks.
A spokesman for Afghanistan's defence ministry said that "air defence strikes were carried out against Pakistani aircraft in Kabul".
Months of cross-border clashes have flared again since Thursday, when Afghanistan launched an offensive along the frontier, with Pakistani forces hitting back on the border and from the skies.
The renewed violence came after Afghan residents and officials said troops from both countries had been battling along the border, with the fighting coming alongside multiple strikes including the former US air base at Bagram.
Earlier, residents in multiple areas bordering Pakistan told AFP of fighting, while the Afghan government said three people were killed overnight in drone strikes and shelling.
North of the capital Kabul, air strikes "hit Bagram air base", according to a resident who AFP is not naming for security reasons.
A second resident said "it was very strong, which shook the area. There was smoke and fire coming out north of the airport", describing the dawn raid as "very terrifying".
The provincial spokesman, Fazl ul Rahim Maskin Yar, said Pakistani jets "attempted to bomb" the base, but there were no casualties or damage.
Pakistan acknowledged bombing key cities Friday including Kabul and Kandahar, which is home to Afghanistan's supreme leader, but has not commented on Sunday's strikes.
The presence of security forces was boosted in central Kabul on Sunday evening, with increased checks on cars, an AFP journalist said.
Late Sunday evening, Afghan officials claimed to have retaliated with strikes on multiple bases in Pakistan that caused "significant damage", including in the major city of Rawalpindi, though there were no immediate Pakistani reports of such attacks.
"Any further violations of our airspace or acts of aggression by hostile Pakistani elements will be met with a swift, decisive, and proportionate response," the Afghan Ministry of Defence posted on X, with a video of a drone flying into the distance.