WANA, Dec 5: Soldiers thwarted an attempt by suicide bombers to attack a military base in South Waziristan on Wednesday. Three of them, however, lost their lives in the process. The two bombers were also killed as their explosives-laden vehicle blew up.

According to a security official in Peshawar, soldiers manning a security tower at the walled Javed Sultan Shaheed Camp spotted the vehicle when it was about 100 metres from the camp.

The soldiers blew up the speeding vehicle by firing a rocket- propelled grenade, causing a huge blast, which also led to the death of a soldier at the tower. Another soldier was injured and later died at hospital, the official said.

A captain died when the roof of a building inside the camp collapsed on him, the official said.

The camp had come under an attack once before too.

The camp — housing military offices and residences of officers and soldiers — is barely a few kilometres away from the Afghan border.

This was the second case of suicide bombing in Wana over the past week. On Nov 29, in an attempt to kill a pro-government militant commander, a motorcycle-riding suicide bomber had killed eight people and injured 18.

The bombing has caused tension between the native Ahmadzai Wazir tribe and Mehsud tribesmen, who have settled here after being displaced by a military operation in their area. The top leadership of the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan belongs to the Mehsud tribe.

Although no group claimed responsibility for the Nov 29 attack, the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe gave Mehsud tribesmen a deadline to leave their territory by Wednesday (Dec 5).

Hundreds of Mehsud tribesmen were seen leaving Wana before expiry of the deadline.