Afghanistan: Three dead in improvised explosive device near border

Three border guards were killed when an improvised explosive device was detonated Sunday in North Waziristan, an isolated tribal area in northwestern Pakistan on the border with Afghanistan, security sources said.

The soldiers were checking a road before a military convoy passed by when an improvised explosive device exploded, a Pakistani security official said.

The blast that killed three members of the border guard took place in the village of Wulam Khan, according to the same source.

Members of the intelligence service confirmed the incident and the report.

A traffic ban has been ordered in the area and an investigation is under way to locate the perpetrators, the security official said.

The village of Wulam Khan is located in North Waziristan, one of seven tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, where the Taliban remain strong. Although there was no claim of responsibility, the method of action refers to the Taliban.

Although the number of attacks in Pakistan has decreased in recent years, following a series of military operations against Islamists in the northwestern part of the country, rebel organizations still retain the potential to carry out bloody attacks.

In early December, an attack claimed by the Pakistani Taliban against an agricultural training school in Peshawar had claimed the lives of nine people and injured dozens more.

The new wave of violence is being recorded as hundreds of residents displaced during operations in North Waziristan prepare to return home as the area is now declared safe by the military.

Source