Pakistan launches strikes on Afghan soil

International Desk: Pakistan has launched "strikes" against militant bases in Afghanistan, hours after the army said it had found links that terrorists from across the border were behind the suicide bombing at the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar that killed 88 people.

Immediately after the bombing in Sindh province, Pakistan claimed the attack was planned in militant sanctuaries in Afghanistan, in remarks that can renew hostility between Kabul and Islamabad.

Military sources said that the strikes were launched on Friday night. But there have been no official word on the strikes, which, if confirmed, would be the first such operation on Afghan soil by the Pakistan army.

A media report said that four camps of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar terror group were targeted in the strikes across the border of Pakistan's Khyber and Mohmand tribal agencies.

An official said the security forces used heavy weapons and mortar shells to hit several training centres of Omar Khalid Khorasani, the head of the Jamaat-ul Ahrar group.

He said people living near Landikotal in Khyber Agency were asked to vacate their houses to avoid collateral damage. Some reports said that several militants, including the deputy commander of Jamat-ul Ahrar, Adil Bacha, were killed in the strikes.

Islamabad has often warned Kabul authorities to prevent the use of their soil for terror activities in Pakistan. On Friday, Pakistan army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa told General John Nicholson, the top US commander in Afghanistan, that terrorist activities and inaction against militants in Afghanistan were "testing our current policy of cross-border restraint".

Pakistan army has launched "intelligence-based operations" combing operations across the country and claimed it has killed "100 terrorists" since the attack on the shrine.

Agencies

risingbd/DHAKA/Feb 19, 2017/Amirul