Home Latest News Four Soldiers Killed in Waziristan Bombing

Four Soldiers Killed in Waziristan Bombing

by AFP
File Photo

File Photo

Ansarul Mujahideen claims responsibility for the attack in which five soldiers were also wounded.

At least four soldiers were killed and five wounded when a military convoy struck a roadside bomb in Pakistan’s tribal areas on Thursday, security officials said.

The convoy was passing through Spinwam village some 45 kilometers east of Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan, which is a hub of Taliban and Al Qaeda linked militants on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Pakistani officials blamed “miscreants”—a term they often use for the Taliban—for the attack.

“Two more soldiers embraced shahadat (martyrdom). The death toll has now risen to four, the roadside IED was planted by miscreants,” said a senior security official, updating his earlier death toll of two. Five soldiers were wounded in the blast from the improvised explosive device (IED), the official added.

A second security official said one military truck was badly damaged in the attack.

Ansarul Mujahideen, a little known militant group linked to the umbrella Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack.

“It is in retaliation to the drone strike in Hangu,” said Abu Baseer, a purported spokesman of the group, threatening more attacks.

A madrassah in the Hangu district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province was targeted by a U.S. drone attack in November, killing six militants. The attack, which militant sources said killed the spiritual leader of the Haqqani network, along with five others, was unusual in that it was mounted outside Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas on the Afghan border and within the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government’s territorial jurisdiction. It also prompted mass protests from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf political party led by cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, forcing the U.S. to temporarily suspend the transport of equipment through the Torkham border crossing.

Related Articles

Leave a Comment