Bomb kills four Pakistani soldiers near Afghan border

Miranshah: A roadside bomb targeting a military convoy on Sunday killed four Pakistan army soldiers and wounded four more in a northwestern tribal area near the Afghan border, officials said. The blast was triggered by remote control in Mirali town in North Waziristan tribal district, a notorious hub of Taliban and Al-Qaeda linked militants. "The roadside bomb planted near Khawaja Khar check post went off when a convoy left Mirali on its way to the northwestern city of Bannu," a local security official said, adding that four soldiers died and four more were rushed to hospital. An army official in the northwestern city of Peshawar confirmed the attack on the convoy of more than a dozen vehicles and the casualty toll. "The bomb was planted under a culvert near the check post, it destroyed one military vehicle and killed four soldiers," he said, adding that another four were wounded in the blast. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast. Pakistan suffers from near daily bomb and shooting attacks, which officials blame on Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants. According to Islamabad, more than 35,000 people have been killed as a result of terrorism since Al-Qaeda`s September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. AFP