Bomber Hits Checkpoint in Pakistan, Killing 20
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Eighteen members of the security forces and two civilians were killed in a suicide bombing on Saturday at a joint military and police checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan, security officials said.
The police in Doaba, in the Hangu district of North-West Frontier Province, said that three of their men had been wounded in the attack, which hit around the time when the guard was changing at the checkpoint. Eight soldiers were also wounded and were later shifted to a military hospital for treatment.
The police blamed the Pakistani Taliban for the bombing, though there was no immediate claim of responsibility by the militants.
The military had carried out a major cleanup operation in Doaba in August to flush out Taliban militants who wereinfiltrating from the nearby Kurram and Orakzai tribal regions.
Army helicopter gunships have been attacking suspected militant hide-outs in Orakzai in the last couple of weeks. That region is under the sway of Hakimullah Mehsud, a senior Taliban commander. He warned this month that the Pakistani Taliban would carry out two bombings a week in what he called revenge for missile strikes by American drone aircraft.
One of those missile strikes, on April 2, was apparently aimed at Mr. Mehsud. The strike killed 10 militants at one of his training camps in the Orakzai region, officials said. Mr. Mehsud was reported to have escaped.
The police in Doaba, in the Hangu district of North-West Frontier Province, said that three of their men had been wounded in the attack, which hit around the time when the guard was changing at the checkpoint. Eight soldiers were also wounded and were later shifted to a military hospital for treatment.
The police blamed the Pakistani Taliban for the bombing, though there was no immediate claim of responsibility by the militants.
The military had carried out a major cleanup operation in Doaba in August to flush out Taliban militants who wereinfiltrating from the nearby Kurram and Orakzai tribal regions.
Army helicopter gunships have been attacking suspected militant hide-outs in Orakzai in the last couple of weeks. That region is under the sway of Hakimullah Mehsud, a senior Taliban commander. He warned this month that the Pakistani Taliban would carry out two bombings a week in what he called revenge for missile strikes by American drone aircraft.
One of those missile strikes, on April 2, was apparently aimed at Mr. Mehsud. The strike killed 10 militants at one of his training camps in the Orakzai region, officials said. Mr. Mehsud was reported to have escaped.
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