2 killed in Pakistan suicide bombing

PESHAWAR: A suicide bomber struck a vehicle carrying paramilitary troops in Pakistan’s northwest on Monday, killing two soldiers and wounding eight other people in an attack claimed by the Taliban.

The attack on the Frontier Corps took place in the upscale Hay at a bad area of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The blast came a day after the Pakistani military said it had launched a fresh ground operation in a valley in the northwest, part of an offensive that began last November to clear the militancy-racked area.

Local senior police official Im ran Malik, whi gave the death toll, said four civilians were among the eight injured.

The Frontier Corps, which is part of the army, specialises in operations along the border with Afghanistan. Another senior police official, Sajjad Khan, confirmed the attack and casualties, which the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed in a statement.

On Sunday the military announced the new ground operation in the Raj gal Valley in Khyber Agency. A military spokesman said the operation, aimed at preventing Islamic State militants from crossing into Pakistan from Afghanistan as well as targeting members of the Pakistani Taliban, would be “difficult”.

He said some 500 families had been evacuated from the area before the operation.