KOHAT, Feb 20: Five security men were injured when a vehicle in a military convoy hit a remote-control explosive device purportedly planted by militants in the Kot Mela area on the Indus Highway in Darra Adamkhel on Friday.

The Frontier Corps personnel were going to their camp established in the Darra Adamkhel Degree College when the incident occurred in the afternoon. They were crossing a diversion established in place of a damaged bridge.

The injured soldiers were taken to the surgery unit of the camp. The army cordoned off the area soon after the blast and blocked traffic on the Indus Highway between Peshawar and Kohat.

Officials said the army conducted a flag march through the bazaar of Darra Adamkhel earlier, ahead of the Chehlum of Hazrat Imam Hussain scheduled to be observed in Kohat on Saturday. The whole area had been cleared before the flag march but militants from the nearby village managed to plant the bomb soon after the flag march, the officials said.

The highway was opened for traffic after half an hour to allow commuters to reach their destinations before the closure of the tunnel at 6pm.