ISPR says another child wounded in unprovoked gunfire occurred at Chaman border crossing n Pak troops exercise extreme restraint to avoid collateral damage n Afghan authorities urged to hand over the culprit to Pakistani authorities.

ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR   -  Two innocent Paki­stanis including a twelve-year-old boy embraced martyrdom in an unprovoked fir­ing by an Afghan sen­try employed at the Friendship Gate of Cha­man Border Crossing on Wednesday.

According to a press release issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the in­cident occurred at the outbound gate located on the zero line along the Pakistan-Afghani­stan Border in Baloch­istan when the Afghan sentry opened unprovoked and indiscriminate firing at pedestrians moving from Pa­kistan to Afghanistan. Anoth­er child got injured in the in­cident, the ISPR said.

Own troops exercised ex­treme restraint and avoided any exchange of fire in pres­ence of innocent passengers to avoid collateral damage. Dead bodies of the deceased per­sons were shifted to the Dis­trict Headquarters Hospital Chaman and the injured child, who was immediately evacuat­ed by security forces, is under treatment.

Afghan authorities have been approached to inquire the reason of such irrespon­sible and reckless act, appre­hend and hand over the cul­prit to Pakistani authorities. The Afghan authorities are also expected to exercise con­trol over its troops and impart discipline to act responsibly in order to avoid recurrence of such incidents in future.

Pakistan remains committed to contribute towards peace, prosperity and development through positive and construc­tive bilateral relations; howev­er, such unpleasant occurrenc­es have the potential to harm the sincere intent and purpose.

‘CTD OPERATION’

During an operation in Bun­er district, the Counterterror­ism Department (CTD) Mal­akand teams thwarted a major terrorist plot by arresting four militants associated with the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pa­kistan (TTP). At a presser, CTD DIG Imran Shahid said the ar­rested terrorists were involved in a range of terrorist activ­ities, including targeted kill­ings, extortion, and other acts of terrorism. They were cap­tured with a substantial quan­tity of weaponry, including ex­plosives, hand grenades, and firearms.

The arrestees have been identified as Wajid Ali, a res­ident of Ghazi Khan in Buner; Rahmanuddin, a resident of Arandu in Lower Chitral; Na­jmuddin, a resident of Dokda in Buner; and Ayaz Khan, a res­ident of Charamar Sultanwas in Buner.

The recovered weapon­ry includes four hand gre­nades, two 9mm pistols with 23 rounds, one 30-bore pistol with 30 rounds, two Android mobile phones, and a sub­stantial quantity of ammuni­tion, including 132 rounds of 7mm, 53 rounds of 30-bore, and 17 rounds of 9mm. Addi­tionally, six kilograms of ex­plosives, 10 primacards, four detonators, one dagger, one Pakistani passport under the name Wajid Ali, and one Pa­kistani national identity card under the name Najmuddin were also seized.

The operation was conduct­ed near the Bakhra check-post, situated within the jurisdiction of Daggar Police Station. Wajid Ali and Rahmanuddin were ar­rested while traveling on a mo­torcycle, and both were linked to the mentioned criminal ac­tivities.

During the interrogation, Wajid Ali, one of the arrested militants and the group’s com­mander, revealed that the TTP was responsible for numerous activities in the Gokand Khel Dara area. The group targeted individuals for extortion, car­ried out targeted killings, and engaged in other destructive activities. Wajid Ali also dis­closed that they had received arms and ammunition from Af­ghanistan and were operating in coordination with TTP com­mander Mufti Sajjad, who is based in Afghanistan.

The other arrested individ­uals, Rahmanuddin, Najmud­din, and Ayaz Khan, were also involved in criminal activi­ties orchestrated by the TTP, including the targeting of lo­cal personalities and the illic­it transfer of arms and ammu­nition.