Pakistan: 3 security personnel killed in terror attack

At least three Pakistani police security personnel were killed and 22 others, including civilians, were injured when a convoy of the army came under attack in the Mir Ali sub-division of the North Waziristan district, Dawn reported.

The locals' officials in the region, on Saturday, said that the convoy of security forces and employees of the Marri Petroleum Company was on its way from North Waziristan to Bannu when a rickshaw struck the team. The outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for the attack.

"This rickshaw was parked on the roadside in the middle of parked vehicles when it suddenly appeared and struck a vehicle of the security forces," a local official said, adding that three security personnel killed in the attack and 22 others, including 15 employees of the gas and oil exploration company, sustained injuries, reported Dawn.

No official statement was received from the military's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations till the filing of this report.

The local official said the area was cordoned off immediately after the explosion and the injured persons were airlifted to Bannu's Combined Military Hospital. Two of the injured persons were in critical condition.

Meanwhile, in Balochistan, two officers of the Frontier Corps were killed and three soldiers were injured in an explosion in the Kohlu district on Friday, Dawn reported citing officials.

The explosion took place near a vehicle of the troops participating in an operation against miscreants in the Kahan area of Kohlu district on Friday. A sanitisation operation was started in the Kohlu area on Friday, Dawn reported citing an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement.

During the action, an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded near the leading party, claiming the lives of two officers. It said that the sanitisation operation continues in the region to apprehend perpetrators, as per the Dawn report. Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo and Home Minister Mir Ziaullah Langove have condemned the attack on the security forces during the search operation in Kohlu.

"Such cowardly acts by inimical elements cannot sabotage the hard-earned peace and prosperity in Balochistan," Dawn quoted the ISPR as saying.

The attack in Balochistan is the latest in a series of terrorist attacks which have witnessed a rise since the outlawed TTP ended the ceasefire with the Pakistan government in 2021, according to Dawn.