ISLAMABAD: Pakistan again protested to Afghanistan on Wednesday against cross-border strikes by terrorists as another seven soldiers lost their lives in fresh attacks on border posts in Bajaur Agency.

“In Bajaur early morning today, terrorists from across the border fired on Pakistani posts at Manozangal and Mukha tops. Seven soldiers died and seven others were injured, including an officer,” military spokesman Maj Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa said.

It was the third incident of cross-border terrorist attacks on Pakistani posts in 10 days and the deadliest for Pakistani troops.

The terrorists appear to have changed their tactics after facing a forceful response during their last attempted intrusion on May 31 in which 16 of their fighters were killed.

This time, instead of crossing the border they fired at the Pakistani posts from across the border.

Pakistani Taliban who had fled military operations in Bajaur and Swat are believed to have carried out the attacks from their sanctuaries in Kunar, Afghanistan.

Afghanistan has turned a blind eye to these sanctuaries from where the terrorists have been carrying out cross-border raids since 2011.

The Afghan charge d’affaires was once again summoned to the Foreign Office to receive a protest over the latest attack.

The Pakistani Embassy in Kabul simultaneously raised the issue with the Afghan foreign ministry.

The demand for “concrete steps” for stopping the use of Afghan territory against Pakistan was restated during the protest lodged in Islamabad and Kabul.

The government reaffirmed its commitment to supporting all efforts for peace and stability in Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif termed the attacks “cowardly and shameful” and said in a statement: “We cannot be cowed down by such timid actions.”

In the evening, four more soldiers were injured in a roadside explosion of an improvised explosive device in Bajaur, the military’s public relations wing said.

Afghanistan has in the past avoided taking action against sanctuaries of Pakistani militants on its soil on the pretext that Afghan Taliban had hideouts on the Pakistani side of the border.

Anwarullah Khan adds from Khar: “Our forces responded with full firepower and engaged terrorists with helicopter gunships,” a security official said.

He said the number of casualties suffered by militants was yet to be ascertained.

The official said soldiers were setting up a post atop a mountain in the area to stop militants based in Kunar from infiltrating into Pakistan.

“The militants have six bases just across the border. Some of them are within the visible range,” the official said. “They use those bases to infiltrate into Pakistan.”

He said the bases belonged to militant groups from Mohmand and Bajaur.

“There has been an escalation of attacks from across the border with the advent of summer,” the official said.

A local tribal elder said that around 10 militants, including two of their leaders, were killed and several others injured in heavy clashes that continued till the evening.

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2014