At least 14 security personnel were killed and over 20 injured in a blast in North Waziristan on Sunday. No terrorist organisation had claimed responsibility for the attack till late in the evening.
According to officials, the victims were travelling in a convoy in the tribal agency’s main town of Miranshah when the improvised explosive device was detonated with a remote control. All the dead were in one truck while the injured were in another.
Targeting of soldiers comes a day after the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) announced it would not target the Army in North Waziristan. Instead, according to a pamphlet issued by TTP chief Hakimullah Mehsud, they would train their guns on NATO forces in Afghanistan.
The call to stop attacks on the Army is restricted to North Waziristan. Still, since the Taliban itself is a collective word used for a fractured group of various outfits — many of which have alliances with other terrorist groups — it is uncertain how many would actually abide by Mehsud’s latest diktat.
