Four people were killed including a soldier and two
paramilitary troops when a bomb concealed in a plastic bag went off in
Pakistan’s northwestern tribal area near the Afghan border, officials said
Saturday.
The incident occurred in the Khyber district when security
officials spotted a suspicious plastic bag near a security checkpoint.
Khyber is one of the seven semi-autonomous tribal areas
where the army has for more than a decade been battling militants linked to the
Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
“As the security officials were inspecting the plastic bag,
the bomb concealed in it went off, killing a solider, two paramilitary troops
and a civilian,” a local administration official told AFP, requesting
anonymity.
The incident was confirmed by other local security
officials.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Violence across Pakistan has declined in recent years
following a series of military offensives against insurgents but the remnants
of militant groups are still able to carry out periodic bloody attacks,
particularly in the northwest.
The army launched an operation in June 2014 in neighbouring
North Waziristan to wipe out militant bases in the tribal areas and end an
insurgency that has cost thousands of civilian lives since 2004.
News Credit: PUNCH.NG
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