Pakistan summons Afghan diplomat over suicide attack killing 15 police

Summary

Pakistan summoned Afghanistan’s charge d’affaires on Monday to lodge a formal complaint over a suicide attack in the country’s northwest that killed 15 police officers, according to a statement by Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry. Islamabad summoned the diplomat to formally raise the issue after a late Saturday attack in Bannu, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan.

Pakistan said it blamed the attack on the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. The ministry said it handed the complaint to Afghanistan’s charge d’affaires and cited the results of “a detailed investigation into the incident, along with evidence collected and technical intelligence.”

In the statement, Pakistan said the investigation “indicated that the attack was ‘masterminded by terrorists residing in Afghanistan.’” The ministry also told Kabul that Pakistan “reserves the right to respond decisively against the perpetrators of this barbaric act,” according to the statement. There was no immediate comment from Kabul.

Local police said the Bannu attack erupted after a suicide bomber, backed by several gunmen, detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near a security post. Some officers were killed in the ensuing shootout, while others died after part of a building collapsed; four were also wounded, police said.

The statement came as Pakistan pointed to a pattern of militant violence it has attributed to the TTP, which it says operates from or is supported by areas outside Pakistan. Pakistan has for years accused the Taliban government in Kabul of sheltering the TTP, which is separate from the Afghan Taliban but closely allied to it, while Kabul denies those charges and says it does not allow militants to use Afghan soil to attack other countries.

In a separate development on Monday, a suspected militant blew himself up prematurely in the remote Jand village along the border with northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killing a civilian, local police and authorities said. Police identified the civilian as Mohammad Liaquat. Authorities said the blast occurred after Liaquat spotted the suspect walking from a farm field toward a nearby security post and questioned him because he was not recognized as a local resident.

A police official, Mohammad Sabir, said the attacker detonated his explosives in panic after being confronted in the small village, where residents know one another closely. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi later paid tribute to Liaquat, saying in a statement that Liaquat saved lives by foiling the “nefarious designs” of the Pakistani Taliban. Naqvi said, “Liaquat sacrificed his life to save others, and he is our hero,” according to the statement.

Tensions between Islamabad and Kabul have persisted as fighting between Afghan and Pakistani forces has killed hundreds of people since late February. In early April, Afghan Taliban and Pakistani officials held peace talks mediated by China, but sporadic cross-border clashes have continued, albeit at a lower intensity than before.