A suicide attack killed four people including three soldiers at a security check-post in North Waziristan on Tuesday, the second in the region since the LaL Masjid operation and the first since local Taliban militants pulled out of a peace agreement with the government.Eyewitnesses said the suicide bomber, who appeared to be in his 40s, walked towards the checkpoint in Kajhri, 35 kilometres east of Miranshah, and blew himself up as he mingled with soldiers manning the post. Three soldiers, a civilian and the bomber died in the attack, and two people were injured, military spokesman Maj-Gen Waheed Arshad told Daily Times by phone from Rawalpindi. “Security forces ordered a truck to stop. A man got down from the vehicle then walked up to the post and blew himself up,” Gen Arshad told AFP.
Twenty-three paramilitary soldiers were killed in a suicide blast in North Waziristan on July 14, while dozens were killed in suicide attacks in Swat and Dera Ismail Khan over the weekend, in what is being seen as a backlash from the military operation to clear Lal Masjid in Islamabad of militants earlier this month.
Late Monday night, suspected militants blew up three checkpoints of the tribal police in North Waziristan, but there were no casualties, security officials said. Militants handed out pamphlets from a car overnight in North Waziristan warning security forces and tribal elders of violence after the collapse on Sunday of the N Waziristan peace accord.
Also on Tuesday, unidentified militants beheaded an Afghan national, Muhammad Bashir, at Khar Banda tehsil, Bajaur Agency, for allegedly spying for US forces in Afghanistan. Three policemen, including the SHO of Och police, were injured when an explosive device planted along the Chakdara-Timergara road went off near Gulabad bridge in Lower Dir.