Pakistan on Wednesday confirmed the involvement of Afghan nationals in last month’s terrorist attack on a cantonment in Zhob.
Nine soldiers were martyred and five terrorists killed in the attack on July 12 when the militants targeted a garrison in Balochistan, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), which said an initial attempt to infiltrate into the facility was prevented by soldiers on duty. During the subsequent exchange of fire, however, nine soldiers laid down their lives in the line of duty while also killing the five terrorists attacking them. “Security forces remain determined to thwart all such ghastly attempts at destroying peace of Balochistan and Pakistan,” the military’s media wing added.
In a statement, the Foreign Office confirmed that three of the terrorists involved in the July 12 attack were identified as Afghan nationals. “Three terrorists who attacked the Zhob cantonment belonged to Afghanistan’s Kandahar province,” it said, adding that Afghan Embassy in Islamabad had been asked to receive the bodies of Afghan terrorists.
The statement also expressed concern and condemnation for the continued involvement of Afghans in terrorist activities in Pakistan and the use of Afghan soil to stage terrorism in its neighboring nation.
A day earlier, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had warned that if the Afghan interim government failed to take action against militants on its soil, Pakistan as a last resort could act in “self-defense” to target terrorists hiding in Afghanistan. Similarly, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed concerns over the “liberty of action available” to terrorists in Afghanistan, and urged the interim government to take action to stop “transnational terrorism.”