QUETTA, Pakistan Three Pakistani
soldiers and an anti-Taliban fighter
were killed on Sunday in two separate
bomb attacks in Pakistan, officials
said.
The first incident took place in Salarzai
town, about 20 kilometres (12 miles)
northeast of Khar, the main city in
Bajaur tribal district along the Afghan
border when a remote-controlled
bomb hit a shop, killing an anti-Taliban
militiaman and wounding three others,
an official said.
The injured were two other anti-
Taliban fighters and a passer-by,
senior government official Faaz
Mohammad told AFP
"The bomb destroyed the shop and
killed one anti-Taliban fighter," the
official said.
Bajaur is a part of Pakistan's seven
tribal districts which are rife with
homegrown insurgents and are
strongholds of Taliban and Al-Qaeda
operatives.
Pakistan has for years battled
homegrown insurgents in the tribal
belt. More than 3,000 soldiers have
died but Pakistan has resisted US
pressure to do more to eliminate
havens used by insurgents.
The second incident took place when a
roadside buried landmine hit a vehicle
in the country's southwest on Sunday,
killing three soldiers, a security official
said.
The incident occured near Sui town,
some 400 kilometres southwest of
Quetta, capital of Baluchistan province.
"Troops were patrolling in the area.
Three soldiers were killed and two
were injured. It was a landmine blast,"
a spokesman for paramilitary Frontier
Corps told AFP.
The troubled Baluchistan province
which neighbours both Afghanistan and
Iran and is gripped by a regional
insurgency for self-determination. It is
also a flashpoint for Taliban and
sectarian violence.
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AFP: Pakistan bomb kills three soldiers