Cross-border incursion: Three troops killed in Taliban assault

Pakistan lodges strong protest with Afghan administration, calls for dismantling terrorist sanctuaries .


Our Correspondent/afp July 13, 2014

KHAR/ JAMRUD:


At least three Pakistani security personnel, including a captain, were killed and two others injured in a cross-border attack in Bajaur Agency early Saturday morning. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesperson Shahidullah Shahid claimed responsibility for the attack.


Officials at Khar, the agency headquarters, said a vehicle belonging to the security forces was attacked by a rocket at Kit Kot, near Ghakhi Pass in Mamond tehsil. Those killed included Captain Mujahid, Naik Sajjad Mohmand and Lance Naik Zerak Mehsud. Lance Naik Ghulam Rasool was taken to hospital in Khar where doctors said he is stable.

Officials told AFP that two dozen militants crossed into Pakistan from the Afghan province of Kunar and ambushed a check post. Political administration official Abdul Haseeb Khan said that a search operation was launched in the area and 60 suspects were arrested under the Frontier Crime Regulations (FCR). Two remote-controlled IEDs were also defused during the search operation.

Pakistani officials believe that TTP chief Mullah Fazlullah and his close aides are using northwestern Afghanistan as a springboard for launching cross-border attacks on Pakistani security forces in Bajaur Agency and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa district of Dir.

The foreign ministry announced that a strong protest has been lodged with the Afghan administration over the incursion. Islamabad has reiterated that Afghanistan should eliminate terrorist sanctuaries and its territory should not be used against Pakistan, it said in a statement.

“At a time when a monumental effort is under way through Operation Zarb-e-Azb to eliminate all terrorists and their hideouts, Afghanistan’s cooperation remains essential for the success of our counter-terrorism endeavours,” it added.

Islamabad has repeatedly called on Kabul to act against the safe havens of TTP on its side of the border. On July 4, Pakistan and Afghanistan decided to develop a ‘robust and effective’ bilateral border-coordination mechanism as part of efforts to deal with cross-border attacks, as well as the movement of terrorists.

The agreement was reached at high-level talks between senior military officials from the two countries held at the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi.

FWO vehicles attacked

Three vehicles belonging to the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) were torched in the Shagai area of Jamrud tehsil in Khyber Agency Saturday morning. No lives were lost in the incident. A day earlier, pamphlets distributed in the Ghundai area of Jamrud told tribesmen to dissociate themselves with the Khasadar, Frontier Corps and army before Eidul Fitr. Political administration officials and Khasadar personnel have launched a search operation in the area and investigations are under way. No arrests have been made yet.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 13th, 2014.

COMMENTS (2)

Had enough | 9 years ago | Reply

May God bless our shaheeds.

Capt, Mujahid looks so young.

My sincere condolences to his family.

We will be forever grateful for his sacrifice.

PeaceMonger | 9 years ago | Reply

How times have changed! Pakistan is asking its neighbor to dismantle terror infrastructure while Hafiz Saeed roams around preaching hate.

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