Four Pakistani troops killed in militant attack while fencing Afghan border

ISLAMABAD: Four soldiers of Pakistan’s paramilitary Frontier Constabulary lost their lives after a group of militants from across the Afghan side of the border targeted them in an ambush, the military’s media wing, ISPR, said in a statement on Wednesday. 
The soldiers had been involved in fencing activities on the border. 
“Today during fencing activity in Manzakai Sector, Distt Zhob, Balochistan along Pakistan — Afghanistan Border, Terrorists from across Afghanistan ambushed FC troops moving for fencing,” ISPR said. “FC troops responded promptly.” 
Pakistan’s foreign office condemned the attack as “detrimental to ongoing peace and stability along Pakistan-Afghanistan border.” 
Foreign office spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said in a statement that Pakistan had asked Afghan authorities to “undertake effective measures” against organized militant groups operating from the Afghan soil and follow “mutually agreed protocols and SOPs and avoid recurrence of such incidents in future.” 
Pakistan started fencing its border with Iran and Afghanistan in March 2017 to curb cross-border militancy. 
Pakistan has frequently attributed high-profile militant attacks to groups in Afghanistan and Iran who, it says, enter the country by crossing the porous border separating the two neighboring states.