Roadside bomb targeting military vehicle kills 6 in North Waziristan

The vehicle was carrying three potential military recruits

PESHAWAR: At least six people were martyred in a roadside bomb attack targeting a military vehicle in the North Waziristan (NWA) tribal region on Tuesday.

The military vehicle was carrying three potential recruits in the town of Mir Ali, a main town of NWA, when it was targeted, administration officials said.

The improvised explosive device (IED) was fitted to a motorcycle which was parked at a roadside. It was remotely detonated when the military vehicle drove past.

Kamran Afridi, the political agent of North Waziristan, confirmed to The Express Tribune that all three on board the military vehicle were martyred.

Of the three other fatalities, Afridi said they were passers-by riding in a motorcycle rickshaw at the time of the blast.

North Waziristan had been a stronghold of a potpourri of militants, including foreigners, until they were routed in a massive military operation, codenamed Zarb-e-Azb, in 2014.

Their bomb-making factories and their command and control centre were decimated in the operation. The remaining militants fled across the border into Afghanistan where they have found sanctuaries.

According to Pakistani officials, these terrorists, who enjoy state patronage, use the Afghan soil as a springboard for mounting attacks in Pakistan. Kabul, however, denies the charge.

The deadly bomb attack came days after terrorists, armed with heavy weapons and suicide vests, rampaged through Agriculture Training Institute in Peshawar, killing nine people.

The terrorists live-streamed their bloody rampage on their mobile phone to their handlers in Afghanistan. The Pakistani military said the attackers had been in contact with their handlers in Afghanistan throughout the rampage.