The information ministry on Thursday said that all terrorists involved in the attack on Cadet College Wana in South Waziristan were Afghan citizens.

Security forces confirmed a day ago that they had successfully foiled a terrorist attack on Cadet College Wana, killing all the attackers after an intense clearance operation.

The attackers had targeted the main gate of the college on Monday evening and gained entry to the educational institution, but a timely response from security forces averted a major tragedy.

Government ministers had linked the attack to Afghanistan and said it was orchestrated from there.

“The attack on Cadet College Wana was planned and controlled from Afghanistan. The attack was planned in Afghanistan by kharji Zahid and the final approval was given by kharji Noorwali Mehsud. All the khwarij who attacked Cadet College Wana were Afghan citizens. The equipment for this attack was provided from Afghanistan, which included American-made weapons,” said the information ministry in a statement today.

The ministry further said that the identities of the “Afghan terrorists” killed in the attack “firmly establish the links of terrorists in their bases in Afghanistan”.

It added that the responsibility for the attack was accepted by an unknown terrorist group, “Jaishul Hind”, on Mehsud’s orders.

Mehsud is the chief of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorist group.

The information ministry added he wanted to shift the responsibility from the TTP, adding that this was why the “Afghan terrorist” kept mentioning ‘Jaishul Hind’ in the video made during the attack.

“The Afghan Taliban pressurise Fitna al-Khawarij not to accept responsibility of attacks as that leads to pressure from Pakistan and friendly countries.

“The attack on Cadet College Wana was aimed at increasing security concerns in Pakistan, on demand of the Indian agency RAW (Research and Analysis Wing).”

‘Clear Afghan involvement’

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi had said on Tuesday that it was “clear” that Afghanistan was directly involved in the attack.

Noting that the terrorists had been identified as Afghan, the interior minister said the attackers’ “communication with their people in Afghanistan also continued the entire night”.

Referring to multiple visits carried out by top Pakistani leadership to Afghanistan, Naqvi said: “The foreign minister, deputy prime minister, defence minister — we all have gone numerous times and presented them with evidence and details on how they (terrorists) are being trained in Afghanistan, how they plan and then come here to carry out attacks.”

“We are very clear in this that Afghanistan must stop them under all circumstances. In case of not stopping them, we will have no other option but to deal with the terrorists who are attacking our country,“ he asserted.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had also said that attacks on terrorist sanctuaries in Afghanistan could not be ruled out after the incidents in Islamabad and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.