Bajaur Agency attack: Pakistan lodges strong protest with Afghanistan
An officer and 2 soldiers embraced martyrdom in the attack while 2 soldiers were critically injured.
ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) - Pakistan has strongly condemned the terrorist attack on a Bajaur Scouts vehicle at Ghakki Pass in Bajaur Agency on Saturday, launched from across the border in Afghanistan.
An officer and two soldiers embraced Shahadat in the attack, while two soldiers were critically injured.
A strong protest has been lodged with the Afghan side in Islamabad and Kabul. It has been reiterated that Afghanistan should eliminate the terrorist sanctuaries and not allow its territory to be used against Pakistan.
A statement issued by Foreign Office says at a time when a monumental effort is underway through operation “Zarb-e-Azb” to eliminate all terrorists and their hideouts, Afghanistan’s cooperation remains essential for the success of our counter-terrorism endeavors.
Militants killed at least three Pakistani soldiers in an attack early Saturday on a border post in the restive northwestern tribal belt, officials said.
Around two dozen militants armed with sophisticated weapons crossed from the Afghan province of Kunar to launch the pre-dawn ambush in Bajaur district, Pakistani officials said.
"Militants from across the border ambushed a check post. Two security personnel and an officer embraced martyrdom in the attack," a security official in Bajaur told AFP by telephone.
"One sepoy (soldier) and a civilian were also wounded," the official added.
A senior government official said the militants were forced to flee after troops retaliated.
No group has yet claimed responsibility but both officials said Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants were involved in the attack.
"It might be in retaliation for the Pakistan military offensive in North Waziristan," the government official told AFP.
Pakistan s armed forces have been waging a massive offensive in North Waziristan, a tribal district south of Bajaur, for the past three-and-a-half weeks to eradicate hideouts militants have used to launch attacks across the restive nuclear-armed country.
The army says it has killed 400 insurgents in the course of the operation there.
Maulana Fazlullah, current head of the TTP which rose up against the Pakistani state in 2007, is believed to be possibly hiding across the border in Kunar.
