Month’s fourth attack: Roadside blast kills 3 soldiers in FR Bannu

Explosion occurs when officials were patrolling the area on foot.

BANNU:

Three security officials were killed while two others were injured in an improvised explosive device blast in FR Bannu on Thursday morning.

The incident occurred at Seen Tanga Towda Chena area of FR Bannu when security officials were patrolling the area on foot. The IED planted by unknown militants went off at around 10:30 am.

A security official told The Express Tribune that those who were killed have been identified as Nasir Ali, Jaffar and FC official Muzaffar, while the injured include Captain Obaid and Sepoy Safarash.

He said the vehicle of the security officials was badly damaged in the blast. The injured were rushed to Combined Military Hospital (CMH), Bannu.

No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attack and a search operation was under way till the filing of this report.

This is the fourth attack on security forces in the tribal areas this month. At least eight people, including three policemen, were injured, when a bomb rigged to a motorcycle exploded in Bannu on May 16. Five kilogrammes of homemade explosives had been planted beneath the seat of the motorcycle and detonated through a remote control.

Earlier, on May 8, a remote-controlled bomb blast in the Ghulam Khan tehsil of North Waziristan Agency had left eight officials of the security forces dead and four others injured.

A convoy of security forces escaped a landmine blast in the Naag area of Washuk district on May 3.

The convoy of security forces comprising 25 vehicles was going to Panjgur from Washuk when one of the vehicles narrowly escaped the explosion.

Since 2007, more than 6,800 people have been killed in bomb and gun attacks around Pakistan, according to an AFP tally.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 30^th, 2014.