Taliban bomb kills 22 in Bannu, 38 injured

ISLAMABAD (Pajhwok): At least 22 people were killed and 38 others wounded on Sunday when a remotely controlled bomb ripped through a convoy comprising security forces and private vehicles in Pakistan’s northwestern town of Bannu in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, officials said.

The explosives planted in one of the private vehicles travelling in the security forces’ convoy went off near Razmak gate in the garrison city, a gateway to semi-autonomous Waziristan tribal region.

Officials said the convoy was ready to move to Miranshah, headquarters of the militancy-plagued North Waziristan tribal region near the Afghanistan border, when the blast occurred in one of the vehicles.

The Taliban have claimed credit for the bombing that killed 22 people and injured 38 others in the town, 150 kilometres southwest of Peshawar.

The outlawed group spokesman, Shahidullah Shahid, told CNN Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was responsible for the attack. He said their attacks on security forces would continue.

Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan directed Inspector General of Frontier Corps to provide details related to hiring of private vehicles for transportation.

Soon after the blast, emergency and security forces reached the site and started shifting the victims to a nearby hospital. Security and rescue sources said 18 security personnel and four civilians were among the dead.

The scene of a massive jailbreak in April 2012, Bannu has witnessed a number of attacks in the past.

rm/ma

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