At least 13 soldiers were killed when a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into a military convoy in northwestern Pakistan.
On June 28, officials in North Waziristan, a district in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, said the bombing near the region’s Mir Ali town during a curfew injured 15 more soldiers. At least 14 civilians were wounded in the attack.
In Miran Shah, the regional headquarters, an official said the suicide bombing hit a military truck full of soldiers responsible for disposing of bombs and other explosives.
The Pakistani military said it killed 14 militants in an operation in the region that was launched following the attack. Details were not immediately available.
The army chief of staff, Field Marshal Asim Munir, said in a statement that any actions to undermine Pakistan's internal stability would be met with decisive retribution.
Pakistan’s military blamed the incident on archrival India but did not provide evidence. India rejected the accusation.
Rahmatullah, a resident of Khadi village, the scene of the attack, told RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal that the bombing happened at 6 a.m. local time. He said the powerful bomb injured many women and children and damaged civilian homes.
Ali Amin Gandapur, the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, condemned the bombing.
Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, a local Pakistani Taliban faction in North Waziristan, claimed responsibility for the attack. The relatively small faction has claimed numerous deadly attacks in and around the rural town of Mir Ali in recent years.
The restive district of North Waziristan borders Afghanistan. It is one of the regions most affected by the return of the Pakistani Taliban.
The Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is the largest faction of the Pakistani Taliban. Thousands of its fighters have ramped up attacks on Pakistani security forces since the return to power of its allies, the Afghan Taliban, in neighboring Afghanistan in August 2021.
The TTP’s violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has overshadowed relations between erstwhile allies Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban.
Islamabad has repeatedly attacked alleged TTP hideouts inside Afghanistan and demanded that the Afghan Taliban rein in the group from its violent campaign against its security forces.
