Around 40 Afghan civilians, including women and children, have been killed in a Pakistani army airstrike in the Kunar and Khust provinces of Afghanistan, local media reported on Saturday.

"Five children and a woman were killed and a man wounded in Pakistani rocket attacks in Shelton district of Kunar," provincial director of information Najibullah Hassan Abdaal told the media.

A similar pre-dawn assault was also carried out in Afghanistan's Khust province near the border, another Afghan government official said. "Pakistani helicopters bombarded four villages near the Durand line in Khust province," he said on condition of anonymity. 

Local residents have told the media that 33 members of two families have been killed during the airstrikes in the Spera district of Khust province.

The acting foreign ministry of Afghanistan's interim Taliban government summoned Pakistan's Ambassador in Afghanistan to protest the air strikes, condemning the attack and calling for an end to violence.