Pakistan protests to Afghanistan over suicide attack that killed 15 officers

By MUNIR AHMED

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan summoned a senior Afghan diplomat on Monday to lodge a formal protest over a suicide attack in the country’s northwest, bordering Afghanistan, that killed 15 police officers.

Islamabad has blamed the late Saturday attack on the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. Pakistani authorities have long accused the Taliban government of sheltering the TTP, a separate group but closely allied to the Afghan Taliban. Kabul denies the charge, saying it doesn’t allow militants to use Afghan soil to attack other countries.

The complaint was handed to the Afghan charge d’affaires, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that “a detailed investigation into the incident, along with evidence collected and technical intelligence” indicated that the attack was “masterminded by terrorists residing in Afghanistan.”

Kabul was also told that Islamabad “reserves the right to respond decisively against the perpetrators of this barbaric act,” the statement said.

There was no immediate comment from Kabul.

The attack in Bannu, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, erupted after a suicide bomber, backed by several gunmen, detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near the security post, triggering a shootout. Some officers were killed in the exchange of fire, while others died after part of the building collapsed, according to local police. Four were also wounded.

A newly formed splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack. Islamabad has accused the group of being a front for the Pakistani Taliban.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant violence in recent years, much of it blamed on the TTP.

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