Five members of Pakistan's security forces have been killed in an attack claimed by the Pakistani Taliban in the North Waziristan tribal region, officials told RFE/RL.
Militants attacked a convoy of security forces during a search operation in the Salpazai area on the morning of October 2, according to local administration and military sources.
They said four Frontier Corps personnel and one police officer were killed in the ambush, which was claimed by the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban.
The TTP has increased attacks on Pakistani security forces in the northwest over the past several months.
On September 14, seven soldiers were killed in an attack claimed by the hard-line Islamist group in North Waziristan.
Pakistani security forces carried out a massive military operation in the region in June 2014 and claimed that the TTP had been eradicated.
However, locals and independent observers believe the TTP attacks show that the group is once again regrouping in its stronghold.
The TTP is a separate militant group from the Afghan Taliban, which toppled the Western-backed government in Kabul in mid-August. However, Pakistan's militant groups are often interlinked with those across the border in Afghanistan.
The latest attack in North Waziristan came a day after the TTP rejected claims by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan that the government was holding talks with the group to reach a cease-fire.
However, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban -- the Hafiz Gul Bahadar group -- on October 1 directed its fighters to observe a cease-fire for 20 days and halt all operations against the government and security forces.
Separately, the Islamic State group's local affiliate on October 1 claimed responsibility for killing a member of the Sikh minority earlier in the week in the northwestern city of Peshawar.
Satnam Singh, a 45-year-old practitioner of traditional herbal medicine, was shot inside his clinic on September 30.
The Islamic State-Khorasan Province (IS-K) extremist group has claimed a number of attacks on security forces, mosques, political rallies, and religious minorities in recent years.
