An explosive-laden car ploughed into a Pakistani military convoy near the Afghanistan border on Saturday, killing at least 13 soldiers.
The convoy was attacked in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan district, the army said in a statement. “In this tragic and barbaric incident, three innocent civilians, including two children and a woman, also got severely injured,” it added.
The military said they launched a counterinsurgency operation in the area after the attack and killed at least 14 gunmen.
Prime minister Shehbaz Sharif denounced the attack as a “cowardly act”.
Army chief Asim Munir said any attempt to undermine Pakistan‘s internal stability would be met with swift and decisive retribution.
“It was huge, a big bang,” a local administrator in North Waziristan told Reuters, adding that residents could see big plumes of smoke billowing from far away. One resident said the explosion rattled windowpanes of nearby houses and caused some roofs to collapse.
No one had claimed responsibility for the attack by Sunday morning.
The military claimed that the attack was carried out by insurgents backed by India, an allegation the neighbouring country promptly rejected.
The attack was executed by an Indian proxy, the Pakistani army said.
“We have seen an official statement by the Pakistan Army seeking to blame India for the attack on Waziristan on 28 June,” Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on X. “We reject this statement with the contempt it deserves.”
North Waziristan, a lawless district next to Afghanistan, has long served as a safe haven for Islamist militant groups who operate on both sides of the border.
Islamabad says the militants run training camps in Afghanistan to launch attacks inside Pakistan, a charge Kabul denies, saying the militancy is Pakistan’s domestic issue.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, an umbrella group of militant outfits also known as the Pakistani Taliban, has long been waging a war to overthrow the government in Islamabad and replace it with its own Islamic system of governance.
