ISLAMABAD: Five Pakistani soldiers were killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, the army’s media wing said, as Islamabad grapples with rising militancy in the country’s western provinces bordering Afghanistan.
The IED blast targeted the vehicle carrying security forces personnel in Kurram district in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.
The army said that a sanitization operation was being carried out in the area to eliminate any “terrorists” there, vowing to bring the perpetrators of the act to book.
“Security forces of Pakistan are determined to eliminate the menace of terrorism and such sacrifices of our brave soldiers further strengthen our resolve,” the ISPR said.
President Asif Ali Zardari strongly condemned the blast, state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) said in a report. The president appreciated the martyrs’ sense of duty and patriotism, and the role of security forces in eradicating militancy from the country.
“He expressed the resolve to uproot the terrorism from the country’s soil, saying that the operations of the law enforcement agencies would continue till complete elimination of the menace,” APP reported.
Islamabad blames the uptick in attacks on neighboring Afghanistan, saying Pakistani Taliban, or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leaders have taken refuge there and run camps to train militants to launch attacks inside Pakistan. Kabul has previously said rising violence in Pakistan is a domestic issue for Islamabad and it does not allow militants to operate on its territory.
The TTP has been waging a war against the state to try to overthrow the government for nearly two decades. It wants to run Pakistan as an Islamic state governed by its own harsh interpretation of Islamic laws.
Five Pakistani soldiers killed in IED blast in northwestern Pakistan
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Five Pakistani soldiers killed in IED blast in northwestern Pakistan

- IED explosion targeted security forces vehicle in northwestern Kurram district, says army
- President Asif Ali Zardari condemns blast, resolves to uproot “terrorism” from Pakistan