Urging co-operation of the Afghan government in the ongoing military operation Zarb-e-Azb, Pakistan on Saturday condemned the terrorist attack in Bajaur from across the border and also lodged a strong protest in Islamabad and Kabul with Afghanistan over the attack in which an official and two soldiers were killed.
"Pakistan strongly condemns the terrorist attack on a Bajaur Scouts vehicle at Ghakki Pass in Bajaur Agency launched from across the border in Afghanistan," said a Foreign Office statement. An officer and two soldiers embraced Shahaadat in the attack, while two soldiers were critically injured, it added. "A strong protest has been lodged with the Afghan side in Islamabad and Kabul. It has been reiterated that Afghanistan should eliminate the terrorist sanctuaries and not allow its territory to be used against Pakistan," the statement said.
At a time when a monumental effort is underway through the operation "Zarb-e-Azb" to eliminate all terrorists and their hideouts, Afghanistan's co-operation remains essential for the success of our counter-terrorism endeavours, it added. Reports said that at least three security personnel including a captain were killed and two others sustained critical wounds when terrorists launched an attack on a security check post in Bajaur Agency with heavy weapons from cross the border from Kunar province of Afghanistan.
AFP adds: Militants killed at least three Pakistani soldiers in an attack early Saturday on a border post in the restive north-western tribal belt. "Militants from across the border ambushed a check post. Two security personnel and an officer embraced martyrdom in the attack," a security official in Bajaur told AFP by telephone.
A senior government official said the militants were forced to flee after troops retaliated. No group has yet claimed responsibility but both officials said Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants were involved in the attack. "It might be in retaliation for the Pakistan military offensive in North Waziristan," the government official told AFP.
A senior military official in Peshawar, the region's main city, confirmed the attack and death toll and told AFP that the troops were killed when a rocket hit a vehicle near the check post. "Two soldiers were wounded and taken to the main hospital in Bajaur," he said. Hardline cleric Maulana Fazlullah, current head of the TTP which rose up against the Pakistani state in 2007, is believed to be possibly hiding across the border in Kunar.
Pakistan's armed forces have been waging a massive offensive in North Waziristan, a tribal district south of Bajaur, for the past three-and-a-half weeks to eradicate hideouts militants have used to launch attacks across the restive nuclear-armed country.