North Waziristan: Four soldiers killed in Miramshah blast

Militants target a convoy of forces going to Bannu from Miramshah with IED.

MIRAMSHAH: Four men of security forces were killed and 16 others were injured in a remote controlled roadside Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast in the Miramshah tehsil of North Waziristan on Sunday.

An official of the security forces said a convoy of forces going to Bannu from Miramshah, the main town of the agency, was targeted with the IED.

He said when the convoy reached the Edak area near Kamar check-post, an IED planted by unknown militants exploded killing four security men and injuring 16 others. Five of them were in critical condition and airlifted to the army medical units.

The official said that the rest of the injured were taken to military medical unit in Miramshah forces camp while the rest were taken to Bannu Combined Military Hospital.

A manhunt was launched by security forces while gunships kept hovering overhead to monitor the area.

Since morning, the political administration has imposed curfew in the entire agency and told tribesmen not to come out on the main routes. However, after the explosion, panic spread among the residents living nearby and they kept indoors.

Recurrent episode

It was the third IED blast in the agency during June. On June 23, a security official was killed and two others were injured when a homemade bomb planted at the roadside exploded near a forces convoy in Mirali tehsil while on June 9, three security personnel were killed and three others injured in two incidents of IED blasts in the agency.

After the military operations in the tribal areas most of the banned outfits have changed their tactics and are using IEDs to target security forces’ convoys in the troubled areas, especially in Khyber, North Waziristan, and Orakzai agencies.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2013.