4 soldiers killed in northwestern Pakistan suicide attack

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – A suicide bomber blew himself up near an army convoy in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least four soldiers.

The bombing, the latest in a fresh spate of attacks on security forces, took place in the restive North Waziristan region, which borders Afghanistan.

The convoy was between the town of Mir Ali and Miranshah, North Waziristan’s main city, when the suicide bomber struck, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the army’s media wing.

The attack comes days after the killing of a top Pakistani Taliban commander in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Paktika.

Omar Khalid Khorasani, whose real name was Abdul Wali, was killed along with two aides in an improvised explosive device blast on Sunday evening, according to a spokesperson of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a conglomerate of several militant outfits in Pakistan.

Clashes between the army and TTP have surged since the Taliban swept to power in Afghanistan last August, pushing Pakistan to launch peace talks with militant outfits in Kabul.

Successive military operations have pushed the TTP toward Afghanistan, and Islamabad claims the terrorist network has now set up bases across the border to attack Pakistani security forces.

Pakistan, believed to have a degree of influence over the Taliban, had hoped for a decrease in cross-border attacks when the group took power in Kabul, but the security situation remains just as volatile.