At least 16 Pakistani soldiers were killed and dozens wounded, including civilians, in a suicide bombing in the country’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border, local media reported.
The attack was carried out on an army convoy in Khadi Market, Mir Ali, according to a local media outlet, Khyber Chronicles, citing security sources on Saturday.
Security officials said the coordinated attack occurred when a suicide bomber detonated explosives near a bomb disposal unit vehicle from the 22nd Frontier Force Regiment.
"A suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a military convoy," said a local government official in the North Waziristan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
He said 16 soldiers were killed, raising the previous death toll of 13.
"The explosion also caused the roofs of two houses to collapse, wounding six children," a police officer posted in the district told AFP.
The attack was claimed by a faction of the terrorist group Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
At least 24 personnel, including 14 civilians, were also wounded in the attack.
The attack is one of the deadliest single-day attacks on security forces in recent months in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
So far, the Pakistan Army has yet to release a statement on the attack.
Following recent attacks on forces in the Waziristan, Khyber, and Kurram districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan's military has stepped up intelligence-based operations in the province.
Islamabad accuses Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorists, who are allegedly based in Afghanistan, of carrying out terrorist attacks in Pakistan, while Kabul denies that such attacks are launched from its soil.
