KABUL (Kubha News) – A suicide attacker on March 26 detonated a bomb-laden vehicle on the Karakoram road carrying Chinese workers headed for Dasu dam, killing five Chinese engineers.
General Ahmed Sharif, spokesperson for the Pakistani military, alleged in a press briefing on Tuesday that their investigations indicate the attack was organized in Afghanistan, with an Afghan citizen acting as the suicide attacker, and the bomb-laden vehicle being brought in from Afghanistan to the region.
However, the Taliban government dismisses Pakistan’s claims as baseless and accuses Pakistan of shifting its security failures onto others.
Enaitullah Khwarazmi, spokesperson for the Taliban Defense Ministry, stated in a release that “the killing of Chinese nationals in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region, under intense security cover by the Pakistani military, indicates either the weakness of Pakistani security forces or collusion with attackers.”
Khawarazmi said that the Taliban government has assured China, and Beijing has also confirmed, that Afghans are not involved in such activities.
Furthermore, the Taliban Defense Ministry spokesperson has accused Pakistan of facilitating ISIS attacks in Afghanistan.
According to a statement from the Taliban Defense Ministry quoting Ataullah Khwarami, “We have ample evidence of ISIS affiliates infiltrating from Pakistan into Afghanistan, using Pakistani soil against us, and organizing events from that country. Pakistan must be held accountable in this regard.”
Following the attack on Chinese engineers and the killing of five of them, Beijing sent a delegation to Pakistan and conducted investigations, but more than a month after the attack, which led to the suspension of several development projects in this area and some areas of Pakistan, Chinese officials have not yet commented on the perpetrators of this attack.
The mutual accusations between the military authorities of the Taliban government and Pakistan come at a time when recently Asef Durrani, Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, also claimed that India is acting against Pakistan’s security using elements in Afghanistan.
This comes as last week, coinciding with local elections in India, members of India’s ruling party, the BJP, also accused Pakistan of intending to threaten regional security and India’s interests using aggressive elements.