WASHINGTON: The United States urged Pakistan to expel Taliban leadersfollowing the deadly attack on a luxury hotel in Afghanistan’s capital citythat left five dead and six others injured, the White House said inastatementMonday night.
The leaders of the terrorist outfit need to be banned from operating onPakistani soil, it said in a statement disclosed by press secretary SarahHuckabee Sanders.
At least five people were killed and six injured after gunmen attackedKabul’s Intercontinental Hotel Saturday night, seizing hostages andexchanging gunfire with security forces as the building in the Afghancapital caught fire and residents and staff fled.
The Afghan Interior Ministry said Sunday morning the operation to rescuethe hostages has completed, with 126 hostages — of which 41 were foreigners— rescued.
Najib Danish — the ministry’s spokesperson — saidall five attackers werekilled in the operation.
On Sunday, Pakistan’s foreign office had rejected “knee-jerk allegations”by some Afghan circles of the Kabul attack.
In a tweet, Dr. Mohammad Faisal — the spokesperson for the Foreign Office —stated that there was aneed for a credible investigation into the attack,including one on the security lapses.
In a press statement issued earlier, the foreign office had stronglycondemned the brutal attack, saying, “We express deep grief and sorrow atthe loss of precious human lives and the injuring of many others in thisterrorist act.”
The statement further read that cooperation among the states is importantfor effectively combating and eliminating the scourge of terrorism.