A suicide bomber targeted a checkpoint in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday, killing two soldiers, a policeman and a civilian, military and security officials said.
It was the second militant attack to hit Pakistan in as many days.
The attack occurred in North Waziristan, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province which borders Afghanistan and is a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban militant group, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.
Several civilians were also injured in the attack, according to Rehmat Khan, a local police official.
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In a statement, the military also confirmed the car bomb and the victims. He said the attacker wanted to target a nearby public gathering, but security forces “prevented a major catastrophe” by immediately intercepting the car bomb.
A suicide bomber killed four people and injured several others in an attack in northwest Pakistan on May 24, 2023. (AP Photo)
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban.
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Separately, security forces killed six militants in a raid on their hideout in South Waziristan, a district also bordering Afghanistan, the military said on Wednesday. He did not provide any details on the insurgents killed, but such operations are usually carried out against the TTP. Over the past six months, the group has escalated its attacks since it unilaterally concluded a ceasefire with the Pakistani government brokered by neighboring Afghanistan last year.
Also on Wednesday, the TTP claimed responsibility for the previous day’s attack on an oil and gas facility in Hangu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa district, on the border with Afghanistan. Four security soldiers and two private guards were killed in the attack on the facility run by a European multinational, MOL Pakistan Oil and Gas.
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Though a separate group, the TTP remains a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who took control of Afghanistan in August 2021 following the withdrawal of US and NATO forces from the country after two decades of war. According to some, the acquisition has encouraged the TTP in Pakistan.
