ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR, 23 January 2007 — A suicide bomber struck an army convoy in North Waziristan yesterday killing four Pakistani soldiers and a woman passerby and leaving several others injured.
In addition to the four killed, a military spokesman said nine soldiers were wounded, some critically, when the attacker rammed his car into the convoy at Khajori checkpoint, near the town of Mir Ali, where Taleban and Al-Qaeda fighters had been active in the past.
“A white car hit the convoy and it appears to be a suicide attack,” Inter-Services Public Relations Director General Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said. He said three soldiers were killed instantly and the fourth died in hospital. A local security official said a woman bystander had also died.
It was uncertain how many people were in the suicide car. No one immediately claimed responsibility. The suicide attack came less than a week after a Pakistani airstrike on a suspected Taleban and Al-Qaeda base in neighboring South Waziristan, raising the possibility that it was an act of revenge.
That strike killed up to 20 militants, intelligence officials said. Villagers said the bodies of only eight woodcutters had been found.
Tensions have been running high since then in Waziristan, which borders Afghanistan, and tribesmen in the area expected a breakdown in peace accords worked out by the government with militants and tribal elders.
Saeedullah, a journalist from Dera Ismail Khan told Arab News on phone there have been frequent flights by unmanned aircraft during the past two months. “They are seen overflying our areas but we don’t know whether they belong to the Pakistan Army or NATO forces based in Afghanistan.” The flights create panic among villagers, he said.
Hundreds of people have been killed since late 2003 in Waziristan in clashes between security forces and militants. Suicide attacks on the army, however, are extremely rare, although the Taleban regularly use the tactic across the border against Afghan, US, and NATO-led forces.
Witnesses said people were fleeing their homes in parts of South Waziristan amid fears of renewed fighting. Residents said militants had taken up positions on high ground near army posts in the Khaisor, Makeen and Laddah areas.
“This time, God forbid, if clashes break out, then no one can stop them. We can only pray for a lasting peace,” Maulana Saleh Shah, a senator from South Waziristan, told Reuters.
The government signed a peace accord with militants in North Waziristan last September after a similar deal was struck in South Waziristan in February 2005.
US officials say cross-border incursions into Afghanistan by Taleban fighters based in Pakistan increased significantly after the North Waziristan accord, although the tribal area itself has been relatively calm.
Pakistan Lodges Strong Protest
Islamabad yesterday lodged a strong protest with coalition forces in Afghanistan for firing on a border checkpoint, killing one soldier and injuring two others.
A military statement said that coalition forces in Afghanistan “mistakenly fired” upon one of Pakistan’s checkpoints near Shawal, in North Waziristan tribal district, killing a solider and injuring two others in the afternoon.
“In this incident, one soldier embraced Shahadat (martyrdom) and two were injured,” the statement said.
Pakistan had lodged a “strong protest” with coalition authorities about the incident, asking them to investigate the matter and take necessary steps to ensure that such incidents were not repeated in future, the statement said.
A security official said the soldiers might have been mistaken for militants because paramilitary troops wear traditional baggy shalwar and kameez tunics.
