Bomb kills three soldiers in S Waziristan
Soldiers were on patrol clearing the route and checking for mines ahead of military convoy, say officials.
PESHAWAR:
A roadside bomb killed at least three soldiers and wounded three others on Monday in the South Waziristan tribal agency, security officials said.
The soldiers were on patrol in the hamlet of Ladha, clearing the route and checking for mines ahead of a military convoy when it hit an explosive device.
“Three soldiers embraced martyrdom and three others were wounded,” a senior security official told AFP.
Once notorious as a bastion of the Tehreek-e-Taliban and Uzbek fighters, Ladha was reduced to a shell of damaged buildings, piles of rubble and a ruined paramilitary fort after the military launched an operation in 2009.
Separately, suspected militants detonated a roadside bomb in the Orakzai tribal region, killing one paramilitary soldier and wounding four, government official Nauman Khan said.
Meanwhile, two rockets fired by militants landed inside a military camp in Miramshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan Agency, but caused no damage or injuries, intelligence officials said.
Since US Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad last month, American officials have been increasing pressure on Islamabad to launch an offensive in North Waziristan to destroy militant sanctuaries.
Last week, army chief of staff General Ashfaq Kayani urged people in North Waziristan “to evict all foreigners from their soil and once again take charge of their land and destiny.”
Published in The Express Tribune, June 14th, 2011.
A roadside bomb killed at least three soldiers and wounded three others on Monday in the South Waziristan tribal agency, security officials said.
The soldiers were on patrol in the hamlet of Ladha, clearing the route and checking for mines ahead of a military convoy when it hit an explosive device.
“Three soldiers embraced martyrdom and three others were wounded,” a senior security official told AFP.
Once notorious as a bastion of the Tehreek-e-Taliban and Uzbek fighters, Ladha was reduced to a shell of damaged buildings, piles of rubble and a ruined paramilitary fort after the military launched an operation in 2009.
Separately, suspected militants detonated a roadside bomb in the Orakzai tribal region, killing one paramilitary soldier and wounding four, government official Nauman Khan said.
Meanwhile, two rockets fired by militants landed inside a military camp in Miramshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan Agency, but caused no damage or injuries, intelligence officials said.
Since US Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad last month, American officials have been increasing pressure on Islamabad to launch an offensive in North Waziristan to destroy militant sanctuaries.
Last week, army chief of staff General Ashfaq Kayani urged people in North Waziristan “to evict all foreigners from their soil and once again take charge of their land and destiny.”
Published in The Express Tribune, June 14th, 2011.