Colonel among 6 troops killed in Orakzai blast

Source Daily Times

A lieutenant colonel of the Pakistan Army and five other soldiers were killed when a roadside time bomb exploded in Hangu district on Friday, official sources said. It was the third deadly attack on paramilitary troops patrolling the tribal belt this week.


A security forces’ convoy of eight personnel was on its way to the Thall town from Ghiljo area of Orakzai Agency when it was attacked by terrorists through a remote-controlled device in the Yakh Kandao area, killing a lieutenant colonel and five other soldiers. Two personnel were hurt in the explosion and soon air lifted to the Kohat CMH.

Hours later, gunship helicopters pounded three spots in Upper Orakzai and the neighbouring Kurram and killed 22 suspected terrorists, local government officials Aurangzeb Khan and Jamil Khan said. It was not immediately clear whether the airstrikes were in retaliation or not.

The bombings showed the fragility of the military’s gains in its offensives against al Qaeda and Taliban along the border with Afghanistan.