'Attack controlled from Afghanistan': Pak on death of 5 Chinese engineers

An attack on a convoy in the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on March 26 led to the death of five Chinese engineers

The attack that killed five Chinese engineers in the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on March 26 was planned in and controlled from Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, a spokesperson for the Pakistani military alleged on Tuesday, adding that cross-border terrorism from Afghanistan was continuing despite Pakistan's "vital" role for peace in the neighbouring country. 

Addressing a press conference on tensions with Afghanistan, Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Major General Ahmed Sharif said that the plot for the attack on a convoy in the Bisham tehsil of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Shangla on March 26, which led to the death of five Chinese engineers, was hatched in Afghanistan, Pakistani English-language newspaper DAWN reported on Tuesday. 

"A sad incident took place on March 26 in Bisham where a suicide bomber targeted a car of Chinese engineers working on Dasu dam, as a result of which, five Chinese citizens and a Pakistani got killed," said the DG ISPR. 

Alleging that this suicide bombing was also connected "to across the border (in Afghanistan)", the DG ISPR added that not only was the attack's planning done in Afghanistan, the terrorists involved and their facilitators were also controlled from Afghanistan. 

According to the DG ISPR, the suicide bomber involved in the March 26 attack was also an Afghan national.

Stating that the Pakistani army condemned "this ugly game of terrorism", he said that "all necessary actions" were being taken by it "to bring its facilitators to justice". 

For months now, the Pakistani army and government have alleged that the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has been attacking Pakistan from Afghan soil. Pakistani authorities have also lodged repeated complaints with Kabul regarding the matter. 

In an apparent dig at Kabul, the DG ISPR said: "Everyone knows that Pakistan tried its best for peace in the region, especially in Afghanistan. Pakistan's role has been the most vital for peace in the region." 

He added that Pakistan had been hosting Afghan refugees for a long time and had helped them "more than any other country".   

However, the DG ISPR said that despite all of Pakistan's efforts and complaints made with the Afghan interim government on a state level, "TTP terrorists are continuously committing acts of terrorism in Pakistan." 

According to the DG ISPR, Pakistan had presented "concrete evidence" to Afghanistan, but there has been "no positive progress" till date. 

The DG ISPR also alleged that links of recent acts of terrorism in Pakistan "extend to terror hideouts in Afghanistan". 

Stating that Pakistan had helped Afghanistan and the interim government in Kabul had pledged it would not allow Afghan soil to be used for any terrorist acts, the DG ISPR said: "But there is concrete evidence that TTP terrorists are still using Afghan soil to launch attacks in Pakistan." 

According to the DG ISPR, Pakistan's Foreign Office had registered 12 protests with Kabul regarding the matter. He added that Pakistan's army chief had also taken a clear stance that Islamabad has reservations about hideouts of banned outfits in Afghanistan. 

The DG ISPR said that so far in 2024, Pakistani security forces had killed 249 terrorists and arrested 396 more. Stating that the Pakistani army, police and intelligence agencies were carrying out over 100 counter-terrorism operations on a daily basis, he added that Pakistani forces had lost two officers and 60 soldiers during operations in the ongoing year.   

On March 16, an attack on a security check-post in South Waziristan killed seven Pakistani soldiers, including a Lt colonel and a captain.   

In response, Islamabad carried out airstrikes in Afghanistan's border areas on targets it claimed were militants affiliated with the TTP.   

However, the Afghan Taliban said that at least eight civilians, including three children, were killed in Pakistan's airstrikes. The Afghan defence ministry later claimed that it had fired across the border at Pakistani positions in retaliation.

   

Ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan have also been strained due to Islamabad's announcement in October 2023 that it would expel all unregistered migrants -- a decision that has impacted Pakistan's nearly two million undocumented Afghans. 

In Tuesday's press conference, the DG ISPR said that the drive to repatriate illegal Afghans back to their own country was made "in the larger benefit of the country". 

According to the DG ISPR, 563,639 illegal Afghan citizens had been returned to their countries so far, while "hundreds of thousands" were still living in Pakistan.