Pakistan has decided that months of relative calm along its border with Afghanistan were getting too boring, so it launched deadly air strikes that have reignited tensions in the restive region.

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar announced that "calibrated strikes" on four targets had killed 26 militants. Afghanistan's Taliban government, however, counters that 13 people, mostly children, were killed in the strikes across three provinces. Because nothing says "calibrated" like a discrepancy in body counts.

Pakistan has long accused Afghanistan of harbouring terrorists who carry out attacks on its soil - a claim the Taliban government rejects, presumably while pointing at the border and saying, "Who, us?"

The region has seen this dance before. In February, clashes between the two countries left dozens dead. In March, a Pakistani strike on a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul killed hundreds. And just last October, the two countries agreed to a ceasefire following weeks of deadly clashes. Ah, the fleeting nature of peace agreements.

Tarar said Wednesday's strikes were a response to "recent terrorist incidents in Pakistan" and targeted "hideouts and safe havens" near the border, including a training centre and an ammunition cache. Because nothing says "safe haven" like being bombed.

The bombardment came a day after an attack on security forces near Peshawar, in which the Pakistani government said at least six officers were killed.

"Pakistan has always strived for maintaining peace and stability in the region, but at the same time the safety and security of our citizens remains our top priority," Tarar said, in what has become the official mantra of every country that has ever bombed a neighbour.

Earlier, Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid gave a more tragic accounting: 11 children, one woman, and one elderly man killed in the provinces of Kunar, Khost, and Paktika, with 14 women and children injured. Afghanistan has repeatedly said its territory is not being used to threaten other countries - a claim that Pakistan finds about as convincing as the Taliban finds Pakistan's "calibrated" strikes.

The late February clashes involved an offensive by Afghanistan's Taliban government on Pakistani military bases near the border. Pakistan responded by bombing targets in Kabul, and the provinces of Kandahar and Paktika - all within striking distance of its 2,600km (1,615-mile) border.

Then, on 16 March, a Pakistani air strike hit the Omid Drug Rehabilitation Hospital in Kabul, killing at least 269 people, according to a UN report. That made it the deadliest single attack in Afghanistan's recent history, including 20 years of war between the Taliban, Nato, and Afghan republic forces. So, progress?