Pakistan summons Afghan diplomat to protest Bannu Cantonment attack

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said it had summoned an Afghan diplomat in the federal capital to protest a militant attack at a Pakistan Army cantonment in Bannu, which resulted in the deaths of several soldiers.

“The deputy head of mission at the Afghan Embassy in Islamabad was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday, to receive Pakistan’s strong protest over a militant attack at an army cantonment this week, which resulted in the martyrdom of eight soldiers and injuring several others,” APP reported.

The statement attributed the attack to Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group, an affiliate of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, “which operates from Afghanistan and has used Afghan soil to orchestrate acts of terrorism inside Pakistan in the past as well.”

The Foreign Office said Pakistan asked the interim Afghanistan government to “fully investigate and take immediate, robust and effective action against the perpetrators of the Bannu attack.”