NORTH WAZIRISTAN – One security forces personnel embraced martyrdom and 14 others, including civilians, sustained wounds when a convoy of security forces came under attack in Mir Ali sub-division of the North Waziristan district, ISPR said on Sunday.
The banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed the responsibility for the attack.
Local officials said a 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 forces’ vehicle in the Khajori area of the sub-division.
“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.
Initially, no official statement was issued by the military’s media wing. However, on Sunday, the Inter-Services Public Relations, (ISPR) said that one soldier was martyred and 14 other people were injured in the attack.
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 among the injured persons were in critical condition.
Last month, a suicide bombing killed more than 100 people and injured over 200 others at a mosque inside a heavily fortified police compound in Peshawar.
The number of attacks against police and security forces increased particularly after the Pakistani Taliban called off a fragile, months-long truce with the government in November.
Pakistan in shock as death toll from Peshawar mosque bombing rises to 100
