Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan's Paktika province killed at least 46 people, most of whom were women and children, the Afghan Taliban said on Wednesday.

Six people were also injured in the bombing at four locations in Afghanistan, Taliban deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said. Mohammad Khurasani, the spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), said the victims were "unnamed refugees" who fled Afghanistan because of Pakistan's offensive in the northwest.

The Kabul regime pledged to retaliate.

Afghanistan's foreign office said it had summoned Pakistan’s head of mission in Kabul to deliver a formal protest note to Islamabad on the bombing, warning the diplomat of consequences of such actions.

Pakistani soldiers killed in clashes with local Taliban faction

Pakistan has yet to officially comment on the apparent airstrikes inside Afghanistan. However, Pakistani security officials anonymously told the AP news agency that the operation was aimed to dismantle a training facility and kill insurgents in the region.

The strikes came shortly after Mohammad Sadiq, Pakistan's special representative for Afghanistan, traveled to Kabul to discuss a range of issues. 

In a statement, the Afghanistan's foreign office said the strikes were carried out by the Pakistani army to "create mistrust in the relations between the two countries" while a representative of the civilian government of Pakistan was busy talking with the Afghan officials.

Pakistan has seen innumerable militant attacks in recent years, with the latest attack taking place this weekend, when TTP killed 16 Pakistani soldiers in the country's northwest.

TTP pledges allegiances to the Afghan Taliban, but it is not directly a part of the group that rules Afghanistan.

The faction's stated aim is to impose Islamic religious law in Pakistan, similarly to the Taliban in Afghanistan.

ftm/dj (Reuters, AP)