QUETTA / ISLAMABAD: Four personnel of the Frontier Corps were martyred and six others injured in the Manzakai area of Zhob district when terrorists based in Afghanistan opened fire at them on Wednesday, the military’s media affairs wing said.

In a statement, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) confirmed the incident, saying the terrorists had ambushed FC troops from Afghanistan when they were moving to carry out fencing at the Pak-Afghan border in Manzakai sector.

“Four soldiers of Frontier Corps embraced Shahadat while six others got injured in the ambush,” the ISPR said, adding that the FC troops promptly responded to the attack.

After the incident, security forces evacuated the injured soldiers to the Combined Military Hospital, Quetta.

Islamabad asks Kabul to rein in terrorists operating from Afghanistan

The martyrs were identified as havaldar Noor Zaman, sepoy Shakeel Abbas, sepoy Ehsanullah and naik Sultan.

Pakistan is building a fence along its border with Afghanistan in order to check illegal movement and smuggling and secure its area and around 90 per cent of work on the fence has been completed.

Pakistan is also erecting a fence along its border with Iran.

Meanwhile, Islamabad asked Kabul to rein in terrorists operating from its soil after four Pakistani troops were martyred in the terrorist attack from Afghanistan.

“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 organised groups of terrorists operating from the Afghan soil,” Foreign Office spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said.

He said the Afghan side had been further asked to follow mutually agreed protocols and standard operating procedures and avoid recurrence of such incidents in future.

Four FC soldiers were martyred and six others were injured when a group of about 20 terrorists attacked the soldiers busy with fencing using small arms and heavy weapons.

The attack in Manzakai Sector occurred at about 7.45am.

Pakistan and Afghanistan share 2,640km long border, which is being currently fenced by Pakistan. Several terrorist groups, including the banned Al Qaeda, the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, and militant Islamic State groups are believed to be having sanctuaries on Afghan side of the border.

TTP has in the past as well carried out attacks on fencing parties and security forces patrolling the border.

The latest attack happened a few days after US began withdrawing its forces from Afghanistan, which is scheduled to be completed by Sept 11.

Pakistan has been fencing the border and constructing border posts since 2017 under a $500 million project which is expected to be completed in a few months’ time.

“Pakistan strongly condemns such organised attacks and considers these detrimental to ongoing peace and stability along Pakistan-Afghanistan border,” the spokesman said.

Pakistan’s calls for action against Afghanistan-based terrorists have in the past gone unheeded.

The ‘Extended Troika’ on Afghan peace comprising US, China, Russia, and Pakistan had at its last meeting in Doha on April 30 also urged Kabul to ensure that terrorist groups and individuals do not use Afghan soil to threaten the security of any other country.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2021