ISLAMABAD: Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri condemned the attack on Pakistani troops in Zhob District, emphasising the importance of peace and stability along the Pak-Afghan border.
“On 5 May, 2021 at 0745 hours, around 20 terrorists carried out an attack on Pakistan fencing party in Zhob District using small arms and heavy weapons, which resulted in the martyrdom of four Pakistani soldiers and serious injuries to six,” he said in a media briefing.
Pakistan strongly condemns such organized attacks and considers these detrimental to ongoing peace and stability along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in Islamabad has been asked to convey Pakistan’s concerns to the relevant Afghan authorities to undertake effective measures against organized groups of terrorists operating from the Afghan soil, follow mutually agreed protocols and SOPs and avoid recurrence of such incidents in future.
Earlier this month, four troops of the Frontier Corps were martyred while six others were wounded after suspected militants attacked the security personnel from across the border during a fencing activity along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Manzakai Sector, Zhob.
According to the Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR), the wounded soldiers have been moved to the Central Military Hospital, Quetta, for treatment. Those who were killed include Havaldar Noor Zaman, Sepoy Shakeel Abbas, Sepoy Ehsan Ullah, and Naik Sultan.
In January this year, a soldier was martyred in a cross-border attack from Afghanistan in Mohmand tribal district. Sepoy Fazal Wahid, aged 25 years, was martyred after being fatally shot by the militants.
In February this year, a security post in Makeen, South Waziristan, came under attack, resulting in the death of four soldiers. Lance Naik Imran Ali, Sepoy Atif Jahangir, Sepoy Anees ur Rehman and Sepoy Aziz were the soldiers who embraced martyrdom.
Four militants were also killed in the retaliatory fire, the military’s media wing had said at the time.
