ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Office on Thursday confirmed that one of the terrorists killed during a counterterrorism operation last week in the country’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province was the son of an Afghan interim government official from Badghis province.
Spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan, responding to a question at his weekly news briefing in Islamabad, said that the body has been handed over to the Afghan authorities.
I can confirm to you that one of the terrorists killed was, indeed the son of an Afghan interim government official from Badghis province,” the Foreign Office spokesperson said.
According to Afghan media, the body of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) affiliate, Yousaf alias Badruddin, the son of the Afghan Taliban Deputy Governor for Badghis in Afghanistan was handed over at the Angor Adda border crossing when he was killed in a counter-terrorism operation in Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Pakistan military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) in a statement said on the night of 30-31st January an intelligence-based operation was conducted by the Security Forces in the Khulachi area of, Dera Ismail Khan District on the reported presence of terrorists.
It said that during the operation the troops effectively engaged the terrorists’ location and resultantly, four terrorists were killed.
Last, month, Pakistan handed over the body of an Afghan national involved in terrorist activities who was killed in an IBO in Balochistan’s Zhob district.
Shafqat Ali Khan, to yet another question said the problem of TTP enjoying sanctuaries is a tangible and real problem we are facing, and this is part of our dialogue or interaction with Afghan authorities.
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He said this is the core problem right now, kind of complicating relations which should be much better than what they are today.
“We have been emphasising to Kabul authorities to address the question of sanctuaries on the Afghan territory. This is a problem Afghanistan has to address,” said the spokesperson.
