Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has described the perpetrators of Friday’s suicide attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province as linked to Afghanistan.

The ministry said in a statement published on Saturday night, September 19, that the attack was carried out by individuals with roots in Afghanistan.

The statement says that the existence of terrorist sanctuaries and infrastructure for recruiting and supporting these groups in Afghanistan creates a direct threat to Pakistan’s security.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Information has added that these concerns have been raised repeatedly with the Afghan Taliban and their intermediaries.

This comes as Friday’s suicide bombing at a mosque in a police center in the city of Kohat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, left at least 21 people dead and more than 80 wounded.