ISLAMABAD — Three soldiers were killed when a paramilitary convoy was targeted in a bomb attack in a northwestern Pakistani tribal region yesterday. At least one other soldier was wounded, the military said.
The troops were returning in a convoy from a checkpoint when the improvised device exploded near Khar, the main town in the Bajaur region on the Afghan border. The are is regarded as a safe haven for Al-Qaeda-linked militants.
The attack comes days ahead of a Feb. 18 general election and follows a litany of similar attacks blamed on Al-Qaeda and Taleban insurgents. More than 400 people have been killed in clashes between troops and militants in bomb and suicide attacks so far this year. One official said the bomb used in yesterday’s attack was detonated by remote control.
At least 24 people have been killed and more than 30 wounded in bomb attacks on political workers in the past week alone, including two who died in an attack on an election campaign convoy in northwestern Swat Valley on Wednesday.
Many Al-Qaeda and Taleban members took refuge on the Pakistani side of the Afghan border after a US-led military invasion toppled the Taleban government in late 2001. Bajaur and South and North Waziristan, the two regions that lie at the southern end of the tribal belt, are regarded as militant safe havens among Pakistan’s seven semi-autonomous federally administered tribal areas.
Violence has escalated in Pakistan in the run-up to the election, which was originally due to be held on Jan. 8 but was delayed after the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in a gun-and-bomb attack on Dec. 27.
The United States said Wednesday it was concerned about intensifying violence in the run-up to Monday’s poll, which is meant to complete a transition to civilian rule in its ally in its war on terror.
— With input from agencies
