Pakistan asks Afghanistan to hand over 'militant leadership' to Islamabad

ISLAMABAD

Pakistan on Thursday asked Afghanistan to take strong action against the perpetrators of the recent terrorist attacks in the northwestern part of the country and "hand over them along with their leadership" to Islamabad.

Speaking at a news conference, Pakistan Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said that Islamabad expects Kabul to take "concrete actions against terrorists based in Afghanistan."

"We have noted the statement by the Afghan interim government that it will investigate the terrorist attack of Dec. 12 (but) Afghanistan must take strong action against perpetrators of this heinous attack and hand them over to Pakistan along with the TTP leadership in Afghanistan," said Baloch.

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is a conglomerate of several militant groups in Pakistan that Islamabad believes is currently inside Afghanistan. However, Kabul denies its presence in Afghanistan.

“We also expect Afghanistan to take concrete and verifiable steps to prevent the use of Afghan soil by terrorist entities against Pakistan,” she added.

On Wednesday, Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied any involvement of Afghanistan in the Dera Ismail Khan suicide bombing and said they will investigate if Islamabad shares information with Kabul.

At least 28 soldiers and three policemen were killed and several others injured in a series of terrorist attacks, including a suicide bombing, targeting a Pakistan army post and a security operation in Dera Ismail Khan on Tuesday.

The so-called Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan, an affiliate of TTP, claimed responsibility for the attack, one of the deadliest in recent years.

Later, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry summoned Afghanistan's charge d'affaires in Islamabad and delivered a "strong" demarche for the deadly attacks and demanded stern action against the perpetrators.