Fresh details have emerged about the November 9 attack on the Wana cadet college in South Waziristan, with Afghan media citing security sources who identified one of the suicide attackers as an Afghan national from Nangarhar province.
According to the sources, the attacker was identified as Janullah Ayubi, also known by the alias Zahid, a resident of Kochiyano village in the Mohmand Dara district of Nangarhar. Afghan media reported that a memorial ceremony was later held for him, where he was described as a “martyred hero,” with several local Taliban officials in attendance.
The attack involved four assailants who stormed the military facility, rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the main gate, and then engaged security forces in a gun battle. Three Pakistani soldiers were killed in the assault. Pakistani authorities later confirmed that all attackers were neutralised during the operation.
Initial Pakistani assessments stated that at least two of the attackers were Afghan nationals. However, Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting subsequently said the entire operation was planned and directed from inside Afghanistan. The ministry maintained that the attack was designed across the border by a foreign national identified as Zahid, while its execution was ordered by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Noor Wali Mehsud.
The statement further said that all attackers involved in the assault were Afghan nationals and that the weapons and equipment used in the attack, including American-made arms, were supplied from Afghanistan.
A day after the incident, the Taliban’s foreign ministry issued a statement condemning the attacks in Islamabad and at the Wana military college, reiterating its position that Afghan soil is not used for attacks against Pakistan.
Pakistan’s security officials, however, firmly reject that claim. They say that, based on solid intelligence and operational evidence, all attackers involved in the Wana assault were Afghan nationals and that nearly every major terrorist attack inside Pakistan has links to Afghanistan, with Afghan territory being used against Pakistan despite repeated assurances by the Taliban. They argue this pattern continues to undermine regional security and directly contradicts commitments made by the interim Afghan authorities.
