Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Sunday called on the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) to hand over leaders of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakis­tan (TTP) and other members of the group.

At a press conference in Lahore, Naqvi said the attack, in which five Chinese engineers and their Pakistani driver were killed, was planned in Afghanistan and executed with the help of handlers and facilitators based in Pakistan.

He added that the attack was “completely operated” from Afgha­nistan and planned to specifically target Chinese personnel in Pakistan.

“TTP leadership planned this attack as a flagship project, and enemy intelligence agencies paid them heavily for the attack,” the minister said, without giving more details.

The minister demanded IEA arrest three individuals named Bakhtiar Shah, Qari Abdullah and Khan Lala, along with TTP chief Noor Wali Mehsud, its Malakand Commander Azmatullah and the entire leadership of the group.

“We want good ties with Afgha­nistan, but for that it is important they arrest these terrorists, prosecute them or hand them to us.”

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have soured in recent months. Islamabad says Kabul is not doing enough to tackle militant groups targeting Pakistan.

“Pakistan has raised this issue with the interim government of Afghanistan and stressed that they should act against the terrorists operating there, but so far, we have not received any good results,” Naqvi said.

He said that militants were “exploiting the weakness of the interim Afghan government”.

When asked what Pakistan would do if the Afghan government doesn’t cooperate, Naqvi said then “the government will take a unilateral decision”.

The interior minister’s remarks came almost two weeks after Pakistan military spokesman Major-General Ahmed Sharif said the attack was planned in Afghanistan, and the suicide bomber was also an Afghan national.

National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta) coordinator Rai Tahir, who also addressed the press conference, said that the attacker, identified as Muttaqi alias Taqi, hailed from Afghanistan.

Security forces have so far arrested 11 suspects, including the alleged Pakistani handlers.

They were identified as Adil Sheh­baz, Shafiq Qureshi, Zahid Qureshi, Nazeer Hussain, Faizullah, Fasihu­llah, Imran Swati, Sakha­ullah, Abd­u­llah, Abdul Rehman and Kamal Khan.

Rai said the attacker had travelled from Afghanistan four months before the attack and lived with his alleged Pakistani handlers — Adil Shazeb and Shafiq Qureshi — who prepared him for the attack.

The alleged suicide bomber was trained in Afghanistan’s Kunar province and was one of the four terrorists who crossed into Pakistan in Nov 2023, the Nacta chief said.

He said a Malakand-based car showroom owner allegedly helped TTP militants in smuggling the car, fitted with explosives, into Pakistan from Chaman.

When Naqvi was asked how a car fitted with explosives managed to travel around 1,000km inside Pakistan without being detected, he said security officials stopped the vehicle for checking, but no suspicion was raised.

He claimed action had been taken against officials over negligence in checking the car thoroughly.

The IEA’s defence ministry has rejected Pakistan’s allegations that Afghans were involved in an attack on Chinese engineers.

“Afghans are not involved in such matters,” Enayatullah Khorazmim, a spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, said earlier this month.

“Blaming Afghanistan for such incidents is a failed attempt to divert attention from the truth of the matter and we strongly reject it,” he added.

The construction work of the second phase of the fourth section of the Khaf-Herat railway project, connecting Afghanistan with Iran, has been inaugurated.

The segment is 47-kilometer long, stretching from Rabat Parian to Herat International Airport and the Industrial Town.

It will be constructed at the cost of $53 million and within approximately two years.

Its contract had been signed between Afghanistan Railway Authority and Gamma Group in late March.

Upon its completion, this segment will integrate the Khaf-Herat regional connectivity project with Iran’s significant seaports and facilitate access to Europe via the Turkish railway network.

Iran’s special representative for Afghanistan, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, said that Afghanistan belongs to all Afghans and a government consisting of representatives of all ethnic groups should be established in the country.

“We have clearly stated that Afghanistan is for all Afghans, and if we want to not return to the conditions of Bonn, we must pay attention to this issue,” Qomi said while addressing Afghan refugees in Qom city, ISNA news agency reported.

The envoy emphasized that Iran, while engaging with the Islamic Emirate, also gives its advice to the new rulers of Afghanistan.

“A government consisting of righteous people from all ethnic groups can be the key to political stability and the beginning of construction in Afghanistan, which the Islamic Republic is pursuing the same policy,” he said.

Iran’s special representative for Afghanistan also pointed to Daesh and accused the United States of continuing its interventionist and destabilizing policies in Afghanistan and said: “Today the Americans are doing more evil in Afghanistan than in the past.”

Qomi stated that the cost of America’s interventionist policies in the region are borne by the people of Afghanistan.