Suicide blast hits Pakistani military convoy, causing severe casualties







ISLAMABAD, July 14 (Xinhua) -- A deadly suicide car blast Saturday hit a military convoy in northwestern Pakistan's tribal region, leaving at least 24 soldiers dead and 29 others injured, an army spokesman said.



Talking to local TV channels, Pakistan's military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad confirmed that death toll of security forces has risen to 24 with the injuries number increasing to 29.



This came to be the deadliest attack the security forces have suffered so far this year in the country's tribal region.



According to an earlier army statement, huge explosion occurred at 11:30 a.m. (0630 GMT) Saturday when an explosives-loaded car rammed into a military convoy at Daz Nerai locality of North Waziristan, bordering Afghanistan.



The military vehicles were moving from Ramzak, a local town, to Bannu, a major city in the region. Arshad said two vehicles in the convoy were destroyed in the attack and the injured had been shifted to a military hospital in Bannu for treatment.



Earlier figures showed that eight soldiers were killed while 20others wounded, among whom some are in critical status. The army spokesman later updated the deaths and injuries number to 18 and 24 separately.



There has been no responsibility claim yet, but such attacks are usually blamed on local anti-government militants.



The attack occurred three days after the military operation against hard-line Lal Masjid or Red Mosque in Islamabad.



Months-long standoff between hard-line Lal Masjid administration and authorities developed into violence on July 3, when some religious students of Jamia Hafsa, a seminary affiliated to Lal Masjid, attacked policemen deployed near the mosque compound.



Pakistani troops launched a full-fledged operation against defiant Lal Masjid armed personnel on July 10 after a talk negotiated through religious scholars failed to convince the armed personnel inside the besieged compound to surrender.



Officials said administrators of Lal Masjid were solely responsible for the armed action initiated against them as the mosque and seminary had been used as armed compound for terrorists activities.



Security forces ended the military action against Lal Masjid on July 11 and officials said a total of 102 were killed in the clashes.



Authorities have beefed up security measures in the country's major cities for fear of backlash from the Lal Masjid operation.



Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, vowing to free the country from terrorism, on Friday directed all federal and provincial governments to crackdown on religious extremism and militancy in the country.



Thousands of Pakistani troops were being deployed to Pakistan's northwestern frontier to ensure law and order, where escalating violence against security personnel has left dozens of security personnel dead in the past two weeks.



Editor: Mu Xuequan

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