ISLAMABAD (MNN); Pakistan on Monday summoned the Afghan chargé d’affaires to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and lodged a strong diplomatic protest over the recent terrorist attack on a Pakistan Rangers facility in Karachi, the Foreign Office (FO) confirmed.
Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said the demarche was issued following evidence that Afghan nationals were involved in the assault, including one suspect who was captured alive during the security operation.
The attack took place late Saturday night when heavily armed terrorists targeted the Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) headquarters in Karachi’s Gulistan-i-Jauhar area. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), three Rangers personnel embraced martyrdom while four others sustained injuries.
The military’s media wing said the attackers belonged to the Indian-backed militant outfit Jamaatul Ahrar (JuA). Security forces responded swiftly, killing three terrorists and arresting another identified as an Afghan national.
Responding to media queries, Andrabi said Pakistan’s Ambassador to Afghanistan, Ubaidur Rehman Nizamani, also conveyed a similar protest to Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He emphasized that the involvement of Afghan nationals once again demonstrated that Afghan territory continues to be used by terrorist groups to plan and launch attacks inside Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Pakistan carried out an intelligence-based military operation along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Bajaur, followed by precision strikes against terrorist hideouts in Afghanistan.
According to Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, the operations eliminated 29 militants linked to Jamaatul Ahrar and Fitna al Khawarij. Among those killed was senior militant commander Khan Farosh alias Zabal, while 25 militants were killed during targeted strikes on terrorist sanctuaries in Afghanistan’s Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces.
Security officials said the arrested terrorist identified himself as Usman Ali, admitting he had entered Pakistan from Jalalabad about a week before the attack. During interrogation, he confessed his affiliation with Jamaatul Ahrar and revealed that he and his accomplices had received training in Afghanistan under commander Ahrar Moulvi.
According to the United Nations Security Council, Jamaatul Ahrar is based in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province. The group was established in 2014 after splitting from the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) but later rejoined the TTP alliance in 2024.
Pakistan has repeatedly expressed concern over the resurgence of terrorism since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021. Islamabad maintains that militant groups continue to operate from sanctuaries inside Afghanistan despite repeated requests to the Taliban administration to dismantle them.
Earlier this year, Pakistan also launched Operation Ghazab lil-Haq following cross-border firing and terrorist activity. The latest diplomatic protest follows another demarche issued in May after a suicide attack on the Fateh Khel police post in Bannu claimed the lives of 15 police personnel.
