Pakistan denies afghan University attack was planned on its soil

(AGI) - Karachi, Aug 26 - Pakistan rejected allegations by Afghanistan that a deadly attack on the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) was planned on its soil. The 9-hours long assault on this prestigious academic institution in the heart of the Afghan capital Kabul on Wednesday left 13 people, including 7 young students' dead. The Afghan President Ashraf Ghani told Pakistan's Army Chief Gen. Raheel Sharif over phone that evidence gathered by intelligence agency suggests the militants that stormed the AUAF were in contact with their operators in Pakistan on mobile phone. The two spoke over this matter at a time when the US Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Olson, Special Assistant to the US President Dr Peter Lavoy and Commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan Gen John Nicholson are visiting Pakistan. In response to the Afghan President's call, Pakistan informed the Afghan government that no "technical traces" of telephonic contacts between the university attackers and people on its side of the border could be found. According to the reports, the Pakistan Army initiated an operation in the southwest of the country along the Pak-Afghan border to find the suspected persons based on the information provided by the Kabul government but no-one was found. According to the Army's public relation wing, evaluation of the evidence provided and outcome of the operation has shown that the operators of the militants that caused havoc at the AUAF were using mobile phone services of Afghanistan based telecommunication companies. "Pakistani intelligence agencies are, however, continuing with the evaluation of the intelligence shared by Afghanistan after the attack", it said. Early on Wednesday, a group of militants stormed the AUAF Campus located on a busy street in the western part of the Afghan capital. According to the police, a suicide car bomber first detonated his explosives while other militants stormed the campus with indiscriminate firing. It claimed the lives of seven young students, 3 policemen, and 3 other university personnel. (AGI) .