Asia-Pacific

Suicide attack kills 10 in Pakistan

(AP)
Updated: 2007-07-04 19:29

MIRAN SHAH, Pakistan - A suicide car bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a Pakistan army convoy near the Afghan border on Wednesday, killing five soldiers and five civilians, officials said.

A police officer (C) takes the thumb impression of a radical Muslim student after his surrender near Lal Masjid or Red Mosque in Islamabad July 4, 2007. More than 500 radical Muslim students surrendered at the besieged mosque in the Pakistani capital on Wednesday but thousands of militants remained inside a day after 11 people were killed in clashes. [Reuters]

Several more soldiers and civilians were injured in the attack in North Waziristan, a tribally governed region of northwest Pakistan where Taliban and al-Qaida militants operate, two intelligence officials said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of their work.

The soldiers were on their way to the town of Bannu from Miran Shah, North Waziristan's main town, and the dead and injured have been taken to a hospital, one of the officials said.

"It was a suicide attack, and we think that local militants are responsible for it," the official told The Associated Press.

A second official confirmed the attack. He said five youths were playing cricket near the road when the bomb exploded and were killed.

Pakistan, a key ally of the United States in its war on terror, has deployed about 90,000 troops in its tribal regions near Afghanistan to combat militants.

The government struck a peace deal supposed to empower tribal leaders to contain militancy, but a string of military operations and attacks on troops suggest the accord is breaking down.