Afghan Taliban forces targeted “several points” in neighboring Pakistan, Afghanistan’s defense ministry said on Saturday, days after Pakistani aircraft carried out aerial bombardment inside Afghanistan.

At least 19 Pakistani soldiers and three Afghan civilians died after heavy clashes erupted between security forces of the two neighbouring nations at the border crossing points, media reports said on Saturday.

Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry said Saturday that its forces hit several points inside Pakistan in retaliation for deadly airstrikes last week. Pakistan last Tuesday launched an operation to destroy a training facility and kill insurgents in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province. The strikes killed dozens of people, mostly women and children.