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Today's Paper | December 21, 2024

Updated 17 Feb, 2017 02:34pm

Two FC personnel injured in 'terrorist attack' on Pak-Afghan border

Two personnel of the Frontier Corps (FC) were injured on Friday when suspected militants attacked a post along the Pak-Afghan border in Khyber Agency, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.

Troops "effectively responded" to the attack carried out by militants from the Afghan side of the border, the statement said.

According to the ISPR, there are reports of a "few" militants killed in the ensuing exchange of fire.

An Afghan police official told The Associated Press that Pakistan had launched a blistering artillery assault on eastern Afghanistan's Nangarhar province, where a self-declared affiliate of the Islamic State group is based.

Gul Agha Roohani, provincial police chief of Nangarhar, told AP in Kabul that Pakistan fired several artillery rounds early on Friday into the province's Lalpur district, near the Afghan-Pakistan border.

In the aftermath of the blast at the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar that killed over 75 people and injured 250 others on Thursday night, the government decided to seal Torkham border crossing with Afghanistan for an indefinite period for all kinds of communication due to security concerns.

Resurgence in terror attacks

Pakistan seems to be experiencing a fresh resurgence in terror attacks.

Earlier on Thursday, before the attack on devotees at the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, an explosive device had targeted an Army convoy in the Awaran area of Balochistan, killing three soldiers.

On Feb 15, a suicide bomber struck in Mohmand, killing three personnel of the Khasadar force and five civilians. The attack was claimed by Tehreek-i-Taliban (TTP)

The same day, a suicide bomber rammed his motorcycle into a vehicle carrying judges in Peshawar's Hayatabad Phase 5 area, killing the driver and injuring its four other occupants. The attack was claimed by the TTP too.

On Feb 13, a suicide bomber had struck a protest on Lahore's Charing Cross interchange, killing 13 and injuring 85. The attack had happened right outside the gates of Punjab's Provincial Assembly.

The attack was claimed by the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar.

On the same day, two personnel of Balochistan's bomb disposal squad were killed as they attempted to defuse an explosive device planted under the Sariab Road bridge in Quetta, the provincial capital.

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