A roadside bomb killed five soldiers on Thursday in a tribal region on the Afghan border where the army has been battling to subdue militants, a military spokesman said.The latest attack on the military came a day after President Pervez Musharraf handed over command of the army to General Ashfaq Kayani, the former head of the main military intelligence agency. Musharraf was sworn in as a civilian president on Thursday. Government and military officials have said MusharrafÂ’s resignation would have no impact on efforts to combat militancy.
The blast on Thursday targeted a military convoy as it was travelling through the North Waziristan region, about 20 km east of the region’s main town of Miranshah, said military spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad. “It was an IED (improvised explosive device) that killed five troops and wounded four on a road between Miranshah and Mir Ali,” Arshad said.
Many militants took refuge in remote North Waziristan and other areas on the border after US-backed troops ousted the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001. The militants have been allegedly launching raids back into Afghanistan from their mountain strongholds.