Four troops killed in Pakistan suicide bombing

A suicide car bomber attacked a military convoy in north-western Pakistan, killing himself and at least four soldiers.

The attack raised fears of renewed fighting in the volatile tribal regions of Waziristan.

The attack happened near the Kajori checkpoint on the outskirts of Miran Shah, the main town in North Waziristan, where the government, pro-Taliban militants and tribal elders signed a peace deal last year to end violence there.

An army official in the region confirmed that the bombing was a suicide attack, saying it also wounded at least six troops, two of them seriously. The intelligence official, however, said 16 were wounded.

The intelligence official said the attacker had parked his bomb-laden car on the side of the road and detonated it when a patrol convoy passed by, damaging three pick-up trucks. He called the attack “an act of terrorism”.

No-one claimed responsibility for the attack, which came after tribal militant leader Baitullah Mehsud in neighbouring South Waziristan vowed to target Pakistani security forces to avenge a military raid last week on a suspected al Qaida hide-out. The raid killed at least eight people and wounded 10 others.

The violence is likely to strain the peace deal signed in North Waziristan in September.

It also came as Pakistan faces under growing international pressure to crack down on cross-border militancy.

Militants had not attacked Pakistani security forces since the peace deal, but the US military has reported an increase in attacks by Pakistan-based militants on neighbouring Afghanistan.

Last week, Pakistan’s president Gen. Pervez Musharraf said at a meeting of top generals that the country would continue efforts to control extremism and terrorism through political means but would not tolerate any illegal border-crossing, and threatened to attack militant sanctuaries.

Pakistan is a key ally of the United States in its campaign against terrorism, and it has deployed about 80,000 troops in its tribal areas bordering Afghanistan to try to stop militants from crossing over to Afghanistan, where US-led coalition and Nato forces operate.