ISLAMABAD: Visiting Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta told his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmud Qureshi here yesterday “my country will not allow its territory to be used against Pakistan.”
Spanta made this pledge at a time when Pakistan’s strategic outfits have discovered irrefutable evidence about the activities of India’s Research and Analysis Wing intelligence agency (RAW) in FATA.
An official statement said that Pakistan and Afghanistan will strengthen their cooperation in war against terrorism and work for peace in the region. Qureshi and Spanta stated this at a joint press conference at Foreign Office here, after holding talks that focused on war against terrorism and extremism.
Meanwhile, Taleban militants ambushed a convoy of security forces in the northwestern Swat Valley, sparking clashes that left at least five personnel and six rebels dead, officials said yesterday. The convoy of paramilitary and police vehicles came under attack late Tuesday in the town of Kabal, a stronghold of insurgents who are trying to impose Islamic Shariah law in the restive region.
“The initial report from the area confirms one policeman and four FC (Frontier Constabulary) men died and some FC soldiers are missing after the ambush,” Swat police officer Inam Khan said.
The army later launched a counterattack in the same area, killing five militants and a would-be suicide bomber whose vehicle was blown up when troops opened fire, a security official said.
Taleban spokesman Muslim Khan said 15 troops were killed and only five militants died in the attack in Swat Valley. Swat police chief Dilawar Bangash said a roadside bomb hit the convoy of trucks and armored vehicles carrying rations and ammunition through the valley, which lies just 150 kilometers from the capital.
Militants fired a dozen rockets and heavy gunfire on the stricken convoy, setting off some of the ammunition and killing two paramilitary troops, he said.
Other troops then engaged the militants in an hours-long gunbattle, killing seven of them.
