MIRANSHAH: Three soldiers were killed and four wounded in bomb attacks on military convoys in a restive Pakistani tribal region, while two policemen were gunned down in Karachi yesterday, officials said.
The bomb attacks took place in North Waziristan, a bastion of militants linked to the Taliban and Al Qaeda. “A military convoy of 35 vehicles was on its way to the northwestern town of Bannu from Razmak when an improvised explosive device along the roadside went off, killing three soldiers,” police said. Two soldiers were wounded in the explosion 70km south of Miranshah, the main town in the region. Another two were injured in a second bomb attack on a military convoy 20km east of Miranshah.
North Waziristan is one of seven semi-autonomous tribal regions and has been the scene of frequent drone strikes by the US. The deputy commander of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Waliur Rehman, was killed along with at least five others in a drone strike on a house in North Waziristan on May 29.
Pakistani troops have been fighting for years against homegrown insurgents in the northwestern tribal belt, but the United States has accused them of not doing enough to crack down on Taliban and other militants who cross the border to fight in Afghanistan.
In Karachi, four gunmen riding two motorbikes opened fire on a police vehicle in the Patel Para area and killed two policemen.
Nobody has so far claimed responsibility. Karachi, a city of 18 million people, has been plagued by murders, kidnappings and politically linked violence.
AFP
