India rebukes Pakistan over accusations following deadly suicide attack in Waziristan
India issued a sharp rebuke to Pakistan late Saturday after Islamabad blamed New Delhi for the deadly suicide bombing that killed at least 13 soldiers in the Waziristan region of northwestern Pakistan.
The Ministry of External Affairs dismissed the Pakistani Army's claims as 'contemptible.'
'We have seen an official statement by the Pakistan Army seeking to blame India for the attack in Waziristan on June 28,' the ministry said in a statement. 'We reject this statement with the contempt it deserves.'
The attack, which took place in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan, involved a suicide bomber who rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a Pakistani military convoy near the border with Afghanistan. In addition to the 13 soldiers killed, 24 others were injured, according to the Pakistani military, as quoted by news agency Reuters.
'In this tragic and barbaric incident, three innocent civilians, including two children and a woman, also got severely injured,' the army's statement added.
Following the blast, Pakistan's military launched a sweeping operation in the region, claiming to have killed 14 militants. Officials have not disclosed which group was targeted in the retaliatory strike, and no organization has claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Statement regarding Pakistan
🔗 : https://t.co/oQyfQiDYpr pic.twitter.com/cZkiqY1ePu
— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) June 28, 2025
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack, calling it a 'cowardly act,' according to a statement from his office. Field Marshal Asim Munir, the Army's chief, warned that any effort to destabilise Pakistan would be met with 'swift and decisive retribution.'
'It was huge, a big bang,' a local administrator told Reuters, describing how residents saw thick plumes of smoke from a distance. One local resident reported that the explosion shattered windows and caused some roofs in the vicinity to collapse.
Pakistan's military blamed India directly, claiming the attack was executed by a militant group backed by New Delhi. The Indian government firmly denied the allegation.
Pakistani officials have routinely accused militants of operating from bases inside Afghanistan — a charge that Kabul denies. The Taliban government in Afghanistan maintains that militancy in Pakistan is a domestic issue.
One of the most active groups in the region is the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). While Saturday's attack bore hallmarks of previous TTP operations, the group has not publicly commented on the bombing.
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