PESHAWAR: A suicide bomber blew himself up in an explosives-filled car as Taleban militants armed with guns launched an attack on a security checkpoint in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday, killing two personnel, intelligence officials said.

The two officials say the bomber rammed his car into the main gate of a Frontier Corps base in the Shawa area of North Waziristan on Wednesday morning. The security officials said troops and militants were still exchanging fire.

They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to journalists.Abu Baseer, a purported spokesman for a little known militant group called Ansarul Mujahideen, claimed responsibility for the attack.

He told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location that the attack was in revenge for the death of Pakistani Taleban leader Hakimullah Mehsud, who was killed in a US drone strike in early November. He says the number of casualties was much higher. A senior security official in Peshawar, the region’s main city told AFP that four security personnel were also wounded in the attack.

“We have summoned more troops and the area has been cordoned off,” the official said.

North Waziristan is one of seven semi-autonomous tribal regions along the Afghan border, which Washington considers to be a major hub of Taleban and Al-Qaeda militants plotting attacks on the West and in Afghanistan.