Roadside bomb kills 2 Pakistan soldiers

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — A roadside bomb exploded near a security convoy in northwestern Pakistan on Thursday, killing two soldiers and wounding 15 others, officials said.

The attack happened in Dera Ismail Khan, a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, said Inayat Ullah, head of the police bomb disposal unit in the region.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, which has claimed previous attacks on security forces. The Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, is a separate group that has been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021.

On Monday, Pakistan targeted the group’s hideouts in Afghanistan, drawing condemnations from Kabul.

Pakistan says Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers are giving shelter to the group’s fighters across the unruly border. The Afghan Taliban government insists it doesn’t allow anyone to use Afghan soil for violence in any country.