Ghani denies Afghan involvement in PAF camp attack

Published September 19, 2015
Pakistan army claims that the attack on Pakistan Air Force Badaber camp was planned and controlled from Afghanistan. —AP/File
Pakistan army claims that the attack on Pakistan Air Force Badaber camp was planned and controlled from Afghanistan. —AP/File

ISLAMABAD: The government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan strongly rejected the claims as baseless that Friday’s attack on PAF camp in Peshawar was planned and controlled from Afghanistan, read a statement issued by the office of the Afghan president.

The Afghan government reiterated its resolve that it has never, nor will it ever allow its territory to be used against other countries.

Earlier, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major-General Asim Bajwa had said that the attack on Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Badaber camp was planned and controlled from Afghanistan.

Twenty-nine people, among them personnel of the Pakistan Air Force and military and some civilians, lost their lives and all 13 militants who had stormed the camp were also killed, Bajwa said. The ISPR spokesperson said that 29 people were also wounded during predawn the attack.

Also read: Ashraf Ghani slams Pakistan over recent Kabul attacks

“Afghanistan, as a victim of terrorism, feels the agony and pain of terrorism, and commiserates in that spirit with the victims of yesterday’s attack in Peshawar,” read the statement released on Saturday by the office of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

It further stated that, Afghanistan’s government believes that “terrorism is the enemy of humanity and there are no good and bad terrorists”.

Therefore, the regional states, particularly Afghanistan and Pakistan, should continue putting in joint and sincere efforts to eliminate this heinous phenomenon, it asserted.

“The military operations of Pakistan in Waziristan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) have had consequences both for Afghanistan and Pakistan,” the Afghan president’s office said in its statement.

"The Afghan government has put in a lot of effort in recent years to fight terrorism and it once again calls on Pakistan to jointly fight alongside Afghanistan against all terrorist groups without discrimination so that peace and stability is ensured in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the region."

The Darra Adamkhel chapter of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack.

Built by the United States in the late 1950s to eavesdrop on Soviet communications and conduct air surveillance on the Soviet Union, Badaber is no longer an operation camp. It now serves mainly as a residential area housing quarters for PAF personnel and a public school.

In a five-minute, twenty-nine seconds video sent to reporters on Friday, the TTP group’s leader Khalifa Mansoor alias Omar Naray is seen saying goodbye to a group of 16 militants which, it said, was departing for the attack on the PAF camp.

The group now based in Afghanistan was also behind the attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar in December last year which left 145 people dead, 136 of them students.

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