Three security personnel martyred in North Waziristan IED blast

They were undertaking a routine search and clear operation near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border

PESHAWAR: Three Frontier Corps (FC) personnel embraced martyrdom in a roadside improvised explosive device (IED) blast in North Waziristan Agency on Sunday.

An Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement said, “The FC’s bomb disposal team was conducting a routine search and clear operation [in the village of] Ghulam Khan near the Pak-Afghan border when they [team members] embraced martyrdom.”

They were identified as Naik Inayatullah Khattak, Sepoy Mohsin Ali Turi and Sepoy Sifatullah.

A senior administration official said that the bomb went off near basic health unit in Algad area very close to the Afghan border, adding that the martyred personnel were clearing the way for a convoy.

PHOTO: EXPRESS

PHOTO: EXPRESS

PHOTO: EXPRESS

A curfew has been imposed in the area as security forces search for the suspected militants who planted the bomb, the official added.

There have been a number of deadly assaults in recent weeks in the northwest as well as in the southwestern Balochistan province.

On Friday, three FC personnel were martyred and five terrorists killed in a cross-border attack from Afghanistan on an under-construction post in Mohmand Agency.

The officials were busy in construction of the new border post in Shonkrai near Pak-Afghan border in Mohmand Agency when they came under attack.

The security forces retaliated, killing five terrorists and injuring many others.

The ISPR had said that the fleeing terrorists were seen carrying back dead bodies and the injured.

Separately, a hand grenade exploded injuring seven children, including five girls, in the Uthmankhel area of Lower Orakzai.

Officials said that the children were playing with a hand grenade when it exploded. The injured children were taken to the Kalaya Hospital where doctors said they were out of danger. Their ages were between four and 14.