19-year-old cadet martyred in Lakki Marwat mosque attack

A 19-year-old Pakistan Army cadet was martyred in a terrorist attack on a mosque in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KP) Lakki Marwat district, the military’s media wing said on Friday.

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations, Cadet Arif Ullah was offering prayer in the mosque when the attack took place.

“As soon as Khwarij started firing, he immediately responded and fought the khwarij bravely,” it stated.

“However, during the incident, Gentleman Cadet Arif Ullah embraced martyrdom, sacrificing his life, while saving many innocent lives of worshippers.”

The cadet was undergoing training in Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul but had returned to his hometown of Lakki Marwat on leave, the military’s media wing added.

The ISPR noted that such heinous and cowardly act of attacking worshippers in the mosque while praying reflects the true ideology of these terrorists.

“[The] valiant act of a young Gentleman Cadet is a testament of spirit of sacrifice and dedication of Security Forces’ personnel to eliminate the menace of terrorism from the country and such sacrifices further strengthen our resolve,” it added.

Meanwhile, President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the attack on the mosque, paying tributes to the martyred cadet.

The president said Islam does not allow carrying out attacks on places of worship and mosques. “Attacking the places of worship was a very cowardly and un-Islamic act”.

PM Shehbaz, in a separate statement, noted that Cadet Arif Ullah set an example of courage and bravery by thwarting the cowardly attack on innocent worshippers.

The cadet, who was on leave, could not tolerate innocent citizens becoming victims of terrorism, he said adding that the spirit of patriotism and loyalty to the homeland exhibited by the Pakistan Army was unmatched anywhere in the world.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks since the Taliban government returned to power in neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021, mostly in the northwestern border province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but also in southwestern Balochistan, which abuts Afghanistan and Iran.

Islamabad accuses Kabul's interim rulers of failing to root out militants sheltering on Afghan soil as they prepare to stage assaults on Pakistan.

Earlier in the day, it was reported that ten Frontier Constabulary (FC) soldiers were martyred in a fierce attack carried out by terrorists on a check post in Dera Ismail Khan district.

An interior ministry’s spokesperson detailed that the terrorists equipped with heavy weaponry targeted Zam FC check post in DI Khan's Darazinda area under cover of darkness late Thursday night.