Pakistan issues demarche to Afghan government over attack killing 23 soldiers

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has delivered a demarche to the Afghan interim government over a suicide attack that killed 23 Pakistani soldiers in the northwestern Pakistani district of Dera Ismail Khan, the Pakistani Foreign Office said on Tuesday.
The early morning attack took place in Daraban area of Dera Ismail Khan, where six militants targeted a military post with an explosive-laden vehicle, according to the Pakistani military.
Tuesday’s assault on the Pakistani forces was claimed by a group affiliated with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which Islamabad says has sanctuaries in the neighboring Afghanistan.
Pakistan’s foreign secretary summoned the Afghan Chargé d’Affaires to the Foreign Office in Islamabad and the delivered the demarche to protest the attack.
“The Cd’A of AIG was asked to immediately convey to the Afghan Interim Government to fully investigate and take stern action against perpetrators of the recent attack,” the Pakistani Foreign Office said in a statement.
Islamabad further asked the Afghan government to publicly condemn the incident “at the highest level,” take immediate action against all militant groups, and apprehend and handover to Pakistan the perpetrators of the attack and the TTP leadership in Afghanistan, according to the statement.
“Today’s terrorist attack is yet another reminder of the terrorist threat to peace and stability in the region,” it read.
“We must act resolutely with all our collective might to defeat this menace. On its part, Pakistan remains steadfast in its commitment to combat terrorism.”
Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks in its northwestern and southwestern regions that border Afghanistan since the TTP called off its fragile truce with the government in Islamabad in November 2022.
The attacks prompted Islamabad in October to order expulsion of all illegal foreigners, mostly Afghans, which was followed by a crackdown against illegal residents across the South Asian country.
Hundreds of thousands of Afghans, many of whom had been living in Pakistan for decades, have since left the country.