ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has identified the suicide bomber behind a deadly attack in the northwestern district of Bajaur earlier this week as an Afghan national, a security official said amid accusations against the Taliban administration in Kabul of facilitating cross-border militancy.
The Feb. 16 suicide bombing at the Malangi post in Bajaur killed two civilians and 11 security personnel, prompting Pakistan’s foreign office to summon the Afghan deputy head of mission in Islamabad on Wednesday and deliver a “strong demarche” to Kabul over the attack.
“The suicide bomber was identified as Khariji Ahmad alias Qari Abdullah Abuzar, who was a resident of Balkh province, Afghanistan,” the official who spoke on condition of anonymity said, adding the attacker was also “part of the Taliban’s special forces.”
“The involvement of Afghan citizens in terrorism in Pakistan is clear evidence of the Taliban regime’s complete patronage and facilitation of terrorists,” he added.
Pakistan, which refers to militants as “Khwarij,” has repeatedly accused Afghanistan of sheltering proscribed armed groups such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), and of allowing them to launch attacks against Pakistani civilians and security forces. Kabul denies providing safe havens to militants targeting Pakistan.
The official said investigations had established links between the attacker and networks operating from Afghan territory.
According to the security official, several recent attacks in Pakistan had also been traced to Afghanistan, including a suicide bombing in Islamabad on Feb. 6 and assaults last year on a Judicial Complex in Islamabad and the Frontier Corps headquarters in Peshawar.
Authorities have previously said Afghan nationals were involved in attacks on the Dera Ismail Khan Police Training Center and the Wana Cadet College.
The official also cited the March 4, 2025 attack on Bannu Cantonment and the March 11, 2025 Jafar Express attack, saying their planners or facilitators had operated from across the border.
In another case, a suicide bomber arrested in September 2024 had confessed to receiving training in Afghanistan, he added.
Tensions between the two countries have flared repeatedly over security concerns. Last year, Pakistan shut several major border crossings with Afghanistan in October following one of the deadliest military escalations between the neighbors in recent years, which claimed dozens of lives on both sides.
Pakistan’s foreign office has said border crossings will remain closed until Kabul provides credible written assurances that it will prevent cross-border militant attacks and act against groups such as the Pakistani Taliban that Islamabad says operate from safe havens in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government has consistently rejected Pakistan’s accusations, saying it does not allow its territory to be used against other countries.
