January 9 Quetta attack traced back to Afghanistan, says FO

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office on Thursday said the terrorist attack carried out in Quetta on January 9 has been traced back to Afghanistan.

“This reinforces our stance that the terrorist safe havens in Afghanistan are being used for attacks on Pakistani territory,” said Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Muhammad Faisal at his weekly news briefing in Islamabad.

Six people including five police officers were killed after a terrorist blew himself up on Zarghoon Road in Quetta on January 9 evening.

The huge blast left at large number of police personnel injured, five of them lost their lives as the suicide bomber detonated the bomb near the Balochistan Constabulary truck that was carrying the police officers who were coming back after performing their duty at Balochistan Assembly building.

Denying the presence of Daesh and Taliban leadership in Pakistan, Faisal said there were no safe havens of terrorists and Taliban leadership in Pakistan.

WATCH: CCTV footage shows terrorists trying to enter church

The spokesperson said that Pakistan had been facilitating the US-led mission in Afghanistan through air and ground lines of communication for the last sixteen years.

He said our cooperation also helped secure the region and decimate Al-Qaeda which had also been acknowledged by the US leadership.

“We have conveyed to the US that actionable intelligence sharing can help in advancing the shared goals of defeating terror from the region,” he said.

Dr Faisal reminded that Pakistan had fought the war on terror largely from its own resources which cost it 120 billion dollars over the last 15 years.

Read More: Five policemen among six dead in Quetta suicide attack

Responding to a query, he said that Pakistan desired to resolve all outstanding disputes with India including Jammu and Kashmir, Siachen and Sir Creek through dialogue.

Voicing concerns over the Indian atrocities in Occupied Kashmir, the spokesperson said that India needed to accept the reality that it could not silence the Kashmiri freedom movement through the use of force.