Afghan militants crossed the border into Pakistan and attacked the village of Nusrat Keley in Barawal Tehsil of Upper Dir in the early hours of Friday, blowing up a government school and shooting at civilians, but no casualties were reported in the third such attack in as many days.
Upper Dir District Headquarters officials confirmed the attack, saying the militants had been immediately confronted by heavy contingents of security forces already deployed in the area. Locals, wary of such an attack, had also set up positions and made attempts to repulse the attack. Helicopters gunships also assisted ground forces in their efforts to repel the cross-border militant attack.
According to officials, the militants were part of a group of 400 that had entered Shal Talu two days ago and attacked a security forces checkpost. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants had also claimed responsibility for the attacks in Shah Talu. Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Pakistan Mohammad Omar Daudzai stressed on maximum cooperation and coordination between the two neighbours against terrorism in the region.
“Upper Dir-like incidents could be discouraged through joint efforts and maximum coordination amongst law enforcement agencies,” Daudzai told Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir in a telephone call. According to Reuters, the TTP’s claim of responsibility appeared to signal that the group was adopting a new strategy of carrying out large-scale attacks on government and army targets.
“Up to 40 to 50 of our fighters took part in the operation,” Ehsanullah Ehsan, spokesman for the TTP, told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location. “None of our fighters were killed,” he said. Deputy TTP leader Fakir Mohammed said the group with close ties to al Qaeda had changed strategy and would now focus on large-scale attacks only on state targets like the one in Dir.
