Roadside bomb explosion kills official, 5 police in northwestern Pakistan
A local government official and five police personnel have been killed in a roadside bomb attack in Pakistan's volatile northwestern tribal area bordering Afghanistan.
The deadly explosion occurred in the town of Mamond, some 25 kilometers from Khar, the major town of Bajaur, one of the seven tribal areas in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), on Sunday. The bombing took place as an official from the civilian administration was traveling with the police to attend a meeting in the Taliban-infested region.
The explosive device, which was detonated by a remote control, hit the vehicle transporting the victims and wounded another official.
A few hours after the blast, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terror group, also known as Pakistani Taliban, released a statement, claiming responsibility for the attack. It said it had planted the bomb “to target security personnel.”
The TTP, mainly active in FATA, is regarded as Pakistan’s biggest security threat. Pakistani troops have for over a decade been battling militants in the region to curb insurgencies by the Takfiri terrorist groups of Taliban and al-Qaeda.
The army has managed to reduce violence across the Asian country in recent years, following a series of counterterrorism operations conducted against militants, but every so often remnants of the terror groups carry out periodic bloody attacks, both against people and the armed forces, particularly in the northwest.
Back in June 2014, the army launched a full-scale offensive in mountainous North Waziristan, part of which constitutes FATA, aimed at wiping out militant bases in the highly volatile tribal region.
Since 2001, thousands of Pakistanis have lost their lives in bombings and other militant attacks, and many more have been displaced. The year was when Pakistan entered an alliance with the United States in Washington’s so-called war on terror.
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