ISLAMABAD: A senior Afghan administration official said on Wednesday his country had nothing to do with a deadly attack on Pakistan’s security forces after 23 soldiers were targeted by six militants in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province who blew themselves up while trying to enter a military post.
Pakistan’s foreign office summoned the Afghan envoy after the attack, asking the Taliban administration to investigate the incident and take stern action against the perpetrators of the recent attack.
The incident happened amid a surge in militant attacks in Pakistan since the beginning of the year that have been blamed on a banned militant network, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), whose leadership is said to be based in Afghanistan.
A TTP group, the Tahreek-e-Jihad Pakistan (TJP), which claimed several bombings in recent months, also took responsibility for the recent Khyber Pakhtunkhwa attack on the military post.
“If they ask for investigation, if they share the details with us, we will do the investigation,” the Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, told Reuters, though he added the incident had nothing to do with Afghanistan.
Responding to the development, the US also expressed solidarity with the people of Pakistan.
“The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack at a security post in [Khyber Pakhtunkhwa],” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a social media post on X. “We stand with the people of Pakistan in ensuring perpetrators are brought to justice and offer our deep condolences to the families of the victims.”
Reuters also quoted a top intelligence official in Islamabad who said on condition of anonymity that Pakistan was investigating evidence that suggested an Afghan national had led the six-man suicide squad responsible for the attack.
