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Bomb explosion kills 6 in restive Pakistan tribal area

This photo shows Pakistani pro-Taliban militants in the Mamouzai area of the Orakzai Agency. (© AFP)

A bomb explosion has killed at least six people in Pakistan’s restive tribal areas near the Afghan border.

The attack took place in the village of Barkamar in the Bajaur tribal district.

A pro-peace tribal leader is among the victims.

A senior district official said, “An improvised explosive device planted along the roadside went off as the vehicle of a local pro-government tribal elder, Malik Muhammad Jan, was passing.”

Fayyaz-ul-Haq Sherpao added that Malik Muhammad Jan was a leading member of a local peace committee.

So far, no group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Pro-Taliban militants, who are battling government forces, have often targeted pro-government tribal elders in the area.

Bajaur is one of the seven semi-autonomous districts in Pakistan’s tribal belt located on its mountainous western border neighboring Afghanistan. Pro-Taliban militants infested the area after retreating from Afghanistan in 2001.

Last June, the Pakistani military began a vast clean-up operation against the militants in the North Waziristan tribal district.

The offensive gained momentum in December 2014 after pro-Taliban terrorists massacred 153 people, including 134 children, at the Army Public School in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar.

The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack, describing it as an act of revenge for Operation Zarb-e-Azb, the Pakistani military’s offensive in North Waziristan that started in summer 2014.

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