Pakistani security officials inspect the site of a bomb explosion near the police mobile on the Western Bypass, in Quetta, Pakistan. Police officials said the blast occurred near a police patrol car in the Burori area. Rescue teams immediately responded to the scene following the blast that a hand grenade was thrown at the vehicle, resulting in injuries to one officer, who was subsequently transported to a hospital for medical treatment. EPA-Yonhap

Bombardment by the Pakistani army in Afghanistan's eastern Paktika province on Tuesday killed at least 46 people, most of whom were children and women, said the Afghan Taliban, vowing to retaliate against their neighbour.

The bombing occurred at four locations in Afghanistan, deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said on Wednesday, adding that six people were also injured.

Pakistani government and military officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

"Afghanistan considers this brutal act a blatant violation of all international principles and an obvious act of aggression... The Islamic Emirate will not leave this cowardly act unanswered," said Enayatullah Khowrazmi, the spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense.

A Pakistani official with knowledge of the matter, but declining to be named, told Reuters that Pakistan had carried out air strikes against a camp of the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) Islamist militant group.

TTP pledges allegiance to, and gets its name from, the Afghan Taliban, but is not directly a part of the group that now rules Afghanistan. Its stated aim is to impose Islamic religious law in Pakistan, as the Taliban have done in Afghanistan.

A major TTP attack in Pakistan's South Waziristan area, which directly borders the location of the alleged camp targeted in Afghanistan, killed 16 Pakistani security personnel on Saturday.

Afghanistan's defence ministry identified those killed in Pakistan's bombardment as "mostly Waziristani refugees" - indicating that they were from Pakistan's Waziristan territory.

The neighbours have a strained relationship, with Pakistan saying that several TTP attacks that have occurred in its country have been launched from Afghan soil - a charge the Afghan Taliban denies.

Their relationship was further complicated in March when the Taliban accused Pakistan of carrying out two air strikes on its territory, killing five women and children.

Pakistan acknowledged at the time that it had conducted "intelligence-based anti-terrorist operations" in Afghanistan but did not specify the nature of the operations. (Reuters)