Afghanistan says it repelled Pakistani airstrikes on Bagram Air Base

Afghan officials said Sunday that Pakistan conducted airstrikes on Bagram Air Base, the former U.S. military installation north of Kabul, as cross-border fighting between the two countries entered its fourth consecutive day.

"This morning at around 5 a.m., several fighter jets belonging to Pakistan's military regime attempted to carry out a bombing operation within the airspace of Bagram Air Base," Fazal Rahim Meskinyar, a spokesman for the Parwan Province police where Bagram is located, said in a statement.

Meskinyar said that Afghan antiaircraft weapons had repelled the missiles and that there were no reported casualties. A spokesman for the Taliban government, Hamdullah Fitrat, and the Afghan Ministry of Defense both said Sunday evening that Afghanistan had faced an "aerial aggression" at the base. Their statements did not specify whether the attack had caused any damage.

The airstrike attempt came as months of clashes between the two nations flared up again. The fighting began Thursday when Afghanistan launched attacks along the frontier, prompting Pakistani forces to strike back both on the border and from the skies. Pakistan has declared it is in "open war" with Afghanistan.

Diplomatic efforts have so far failed to secure a truce. Saudi Arabia and Qatar are among the countries engaged in efforts to halt the fighting. There was no immediate response from Pakistan to Afghanistan's claims about the Sunday morning attack.