PESHAWAR: A powerful roadside bomb targeted a military vehicle in northwestern Pakistan, a former Taliban stronghold, killing three soldiers and injuring four others, the military's public relations wing, ISPR, said in a statement. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which is raising fears the militants are regrouping in the region.
The bombing happened when the troops were providing protection to road construction teams in North Waziristan, which lies in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, said the ISPR statement.
Mohammad Khurasani, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack. The Pakistani Taliban, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, is a separate insurgent group from the Afghan Taliban.
North Waziristan served as a base for Pakistani and foreign militants until recent years, when the military claimed it cleared the region.
The Pakistani Taliban have been targeting the military and civilians across the country for decades and has carried out numerous attacks, including a brutal assault on an army-run school in the city of Peshawar in 2014 that killed 140 children and several teachers.
Pakistan’s militant groups are often interlinked with those across the border in Afghanistan.
According to a recently released UN report, more than 6,000 Pakistani insurgents are hiding in Afghanistan, most belonging to the outlawed Pakistani Taliban, which has stepped up attacks on troops in recent weeks in the region.
