An explosive-laden car rammed into a Pakistani military convoy on Saturday in a town near the Afghan border, killing at least 13 soldiers, sources said.
Four Pakistani intelligence officials and a senior local administrator told Reuters that the convoy was attacked in Mir Ali area of North Waziristan district.
Nearly 10 other soldiers were wounded, some critically, and they were being airlifted to a military hospital.
“It was huge, a big bang,” the local administrator said, adding that residents could see plumes of smoke billowing into the sky from far away.
One resident said that the explosion rattled the windowpanes of nearby houses and caused some roofs to collapse.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
The Pakistani military did not respond to a Reuters request for a comment.
The lawless district, which sits 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 several Islamist 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.
The Pakistani military, which has launched several offensives against these militant groups, has been their prime target for the most part.
