ISLAMABAD: Afghan authorities have refused to receive the body of the son of a senior Afghan Taliban official who was killed, allegedly in a recent military offensive in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province bordering Afghanistan, state media claimed on Monday.
Citing sources, Radio Pakistan referred to an intelligence-based operation conducted in KP’s Dera Ismail Khan district on Friday in which, the military claims, four terrorists were killed. “Among those killed was the son of the deputy governor (Maulvi Ghulam Muhammad Ahmadi, 55) of Baghdis province of Afghanistan. He was identified as Badaruddin, alias Yousaf,” it claimed, adding the Afghan authorities had refused to receive the body despite multiple requests from Pakistan.
Radio Pakistan stated that US-made night vision equipment, along with M16A4 and M24 sniper rifles, were recovered from the terrorists who were killed.
“Badaruddin was directly involved in the new wave of terrorist attacks from Afghanistan into Pakistan. The Afghan Taliban leadership still maintains close ties with terrorist organisations, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP),” the report said. It claimed that Badaruddin had previously received training at an Afghan Taliban training centre and later joined TTP.
Pakistan alleges the Afghan govt harbours armed groups, particularly TTP, which conducts cross-border assaults against Pakistani security forces. Last month, Pakistan had repatriated the body of an Afghan national allegedly involved in terrorist activities in Zhob district of Balochistan province in the southwest. On that, the military’s media wing, had said the incident was “irrefutable evidence” of the involvement of Afghan nationals in terrorist activities in Pakistan.
Kabul, however, denies providing shelter to armed groups or allowing the use of their territory for cross-border attacks.