Cross-border attack on Salala Post in Mohmand retaliated

GHALLANAI: Pakistani troops deployed at the Salala Post in Mohmand Agency on Monday returned fire after coming under attack by suspected militants based in Afghanistan.

Official sources said the Pakistani soldiers didn’t suffer any losses or damage to property. They said the Salala Post in Mohmand Agency’s Baizai tehsil was engaged by miscreants with fire from the Afghan side. The sources said the troops deployed at the Salala Post retaliated with extensive fire.

Salala is the same border post that was bombed by the US jet-fighters and gunship helicopters on November 26, 2011 without provocation. At the time 24 Pakistani soldiers, including two officers, were martyred in the attack. Subsequently, the death toll rose to 28. There were around 40 soldiers at the post at the time of the attack and almost also all were killed.

Pakistan had blocked Nato supplies passing through its territory to Afghanistan as mark of protests. The blockade was lifted after more than seven months when the US apologized for its ‘mistake’ through Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.