Pakistan summons Taliban envoy after attack on military base

PHOTO CAPTION: Taliban fighters stand guard while people wait to receive sacks of rice, as part of humanitarian aid sent by China, at a distribution centre in Kabul, Afghanistan, April 7, 2022. REUTERS/Ali Khara

By Charlotte Greenfield

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's foreign ministry summoned the Taliban's deputy head of mission on Wednesday and urged the latter's administration to take action against Afghanistan-based militant groups that Islamabad says attacked a military base this week.

Militants attacked the base in Bannu in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, ramming a vehicle loaded with explosives into the perimeter wall and killing eight Pakistani security force members.

The attack was claimed by the Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group, which Pakistan's military said operates out of neighbouring Afghanistan.

Islamabad says it has consistently taken up the issue of rising cross-border attacks with the Taliban administration, raising tensions between the neighbours whose security forces have clashed at the border in recent years.

The Taliban, whose spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment, has previously denied allowing the use of Afghan territory by militants.

"Pakistan reiterated its serious concerns over the presence of terror outfits inside Afghanistan that continue to threaten Pakistan's security," Pakistan's foreign office said in a statement.

It urged Taliban authorities to "fully investigate and take immediate, robust and effective action against the perpetrators of the Bannu attack and to prevent the recurrence of such attacks."

Pakistan has carried intelligence-based operations inside Afghanistan to target militant groups, which the Taliban says included airstrikes in March.



(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Additional reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar in Kabul; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Bernadette Baum)