PESHAWAR: At least three suspected militants were killed on Friday in a remote-controlled blast in the Sipah area of Bara tehsil in Khyber tribal region.

The militants were from the outlawed Lashkar-i-Islam group and were travelling in their vehicle when they passed the area where they were hit by an improvised explosive device (IED) planted along a roadside, official sources told Dawn.

The vehicle was of LI commander Shams who was not present in it at the time of the explosion, sources said. They added that the vehicle was completely destroyed in the explosion and three militants were killed as a result.

Also read: Former spokesman for outlawed Lashkar-i-Islam killed

The explosion comes weeks after former LI spokesman Zar Khan was gunned down by unknown assailants, also in Bara.

Khyber is situated in Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal belt close to the Afghan border. Groups linked to Taliban and other Al Qaeda, who stage attacks in both countries, are known to have strongholds in the zone.

Military jets have also recently struck insurgent hideouts in Khyber — a tribal area to the north of North Waziristan and bordering Peshawar city — killing scores of suspected militants, signalling as the army chief had earlier said a will to pursue terrorists in even the remotest areas in extension to Operation Zarb-i-Azb which has been underway in NWA.

Woman killed in Bannu firing

A woman was killed and three others — a woman, a man and a child — were injured when unidentified gunmen opened fire at a vehicle in FR Janikhel area of Bannu district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

SHO Janikhel police station Imran Aslam confirmed the firing incident and added that the an investigation was underway into the motives and circumstances surrounding it.

Sources said the deceased woman hailed from North Waziristan and had been displaced following the launch of Zarb-i-Azb. The operation has led to the displacement of over 800,000 people who are being housed in locations across KP with tribal elders having demanded the government to give a time frame for return of internally displaced persons to their ancestral areas.