Six people were killed and four wounded when a bomb planted in a donkey cart exploded in a remote town in northwest Pakistan’s tribal Khyber district Sunday, officials said.
A donkey cart carrying sand was left unattended in the market area of Mastak town near the Afghan border, they said.
“The explosives concealed in the sand loaded onto the cart was detonated with the help of a remote controlled device,” local administration official Syed Ahmed Jan told AFP by telephone.
Another senior official Mutahir Zaib confirmed the incident and the casualties. He said the injured were out of danger.
No group has claimed responsibility. Officials have blamed previous such attacks on Taliban and militants.
At least 12 people were killed in two separate militant attacks in the troubled Khyber district on Saturday.
The militants attacked a security forces checkpost in Malik Deen area of Tehsil Bara and fired rounds at the checkpost.
The forces retaliated and engaged the militants with accurate shooting killing six of them and injuring 10 others.
In a search operation in Akakhel, the forces also destroyed three militant hideouts.
In another militant strike, at least six people including four children and two women were killed when a mortar fired by militants fell on a house in Spah Darri area.
Some 18,000 people fled their homes in Khyber last month amid fears of a fresh onslaught of fighting between the army and militants tied to the Pakistani Taliban.
Pakistan’s army has previously launched a series of offensives targeting the Lashkar-e-Islam (LI), a Taliban-allied militant group waging a local insurgency.
Pakistan’s seven tribal districts near the Afghan border are rife with a homegrown insurgency and are strongholds of Taliban and al Qaeda operatives.
A donkey cart carrying sand was left unattended in the market area of Mastak town near the Afghan border, they said.“The explosives concealed in the sand loaded onto the cart was detonated with the help of a remote controlled device,” local administration official Syed Ahmed Jan told AFP by telephone.
Another senior official Mutahir Zaib confirmed the incident and the casualties. He said the injured were out of danger.
No group has claimed responsibility. Officials have blamed previous such attacks on Taliban and militants.
At least 12 people were killed in two separate militant attacks in the troubled Khyber district on Saturday.
The militants attacked a security forces checkpost in Malik Deen area of Tehsil Bara and fired rounds at the checkpost.
The forces retaliated and engaged the militants with accurate shooting killing six of them and injuring 10 others.
In a search operation in Akakhel, the forces also destroyed three militant hideouts.
In another militant strike, at least six people including four children and two women were killed when a mortar fired by militants fell on a house in Spah Darri area.
Some 18,000 people fled their homes in Khyber last month amid fears of a fresh onslaught of fighting between the army and militants tied to the Pakistani Taliban.
Pakistan’s army has previously launched a series of offensives targeting the Lashkar-e-Islam (LI), a Taliban-allied militant group waging a local insurgency.
Pakistan’s seven tribal districts near the Afghan border are rife with a homegrown insurgency and are strongholds of Taliban and al Qaeda operatives.
