Taliban: Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan kill 8

March 18 (UPI) -- Pakistani warplanes launched air strikes into Afghanistan early Monday, killing at least eight people, according to the Taliban.

The airstrikes were conducted at around 3 a.m. local time, hitting targets in the two border provinces of Paktika and Khost, the militant group that governs Afghanistan said in a statement.

Three women and three children were killed in Paktika and two women were killed in Khost, it said.

The Taliban said it "strongly condemns these attacks and calls this reckless action a violation of Afghanistan's territory."

The attack comes after five soldiers and two officers were killed Saturday in an attack on security forces in Mir Ali of North Waziristan District in Pakistan's northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The Hafiz Gul Bahadar militia based in North Waziristan has claimed responsibility for the attack, local Dawn reported.

On Sunday while attending the funeral for the fallen soldiers, President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan vowed to "give a smashing reply to the terrorists" he held responsible for the attack.

"I promise the blood of our sons will not be in vain," he said.

The Taliban said Pakistan's airstrikes were targeting a person named Abdullah Shah, whom the Afghan government said was in Pakistan and is part of a tribe that frequently crosses their shared border.

"Pakistan should not blame Afghanistan for the lack of control, incompetence and problems in its own territory," it said. "Such incidents can have very bad consequences."

Pakistan has yet to comment on the airstrikes.