Pakistan attacks claim lives
Roadside bomb hits tribal region along Afghan border amid suspected US drone attacks in North Waziristan.
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| Drone attacks have continued in Pakistan’s northwest amid the worst flooding in the country’s history [Reuters] |
A roadside bomb is reported to have killed at least 10 people and wounded four in Pakistan’s Kurram tribal region on the Afghan border.
Thursday’s explosion happened in Palaseen village, about 65km northeast of the region’s main town, Parachinar, a government official said.
Hamid Khan, a deputy administrator of the region, said: “It was a remote-controlled bomb, which was detonated as soon as a passenger van got there. Those killed were all civilians.”
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Fighters linked to al-Qaeda have recently stepped up bomb and suicide attacks in Pakistan after a brief lull amid the worst flooding in the country’s history.
At least 150 people have been killed in the renewed violence in the last week.
The Pakistani Taliban has threatened to carry out more suicide attacks on government targets in response to US drone raids in Pakistan’s tribal regions in the northwest.
Earlier on Thursday, a suspected US missile attack – the fourth raid in 24 hours – hit North Waziristan, the same tribal district targeted in three other drone attacks since Wednesday and a known hub of Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked fighters.
The target of the fourth attack was a compound in the outskirts of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan.
In the last 24 hours, four drone attacks have killed at least 24 suspected Taliban fighters.
There was no independent confirmation and the Taliban often disputes government accounts.