31 killed as militants attack checkpoint in Lakki Marwat

TTP claims responsibility, saying the attack was in response to a US drone strike in North Waziristan.

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Militants attacked an isolated army checkpoint in Lakki Marwat on Saturday, with at least 31 people killed in the initial assault, subsequent crossfire and a rocket attack on a house, officials said.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility, saying the attack was in response to a US drone strike in North Waziristan last month in which two commanders were killed.

Security sources said at least 12 militants and nine officials and civilians were killed in the clash. Two bodies had suicide bomb belts on them, an official said.

"Cross-firing between militants and security officials continued for four hours," one source said.

The militants also targeted a house next to the camp with rockets, killing 10 members of one family, sources said.

"Pakistan has been co-operating with the US in its drone strikes that killed our two senior commanders, Faisal Khan and Toofani, and the attack on military camp was the revenge of their killing," the TTP spokesman said.

He said four suicide bombers attacked the camp and blew themselves up. He said more than a dozen soldiers were killed.