KHAR: Two soldiers were killed and another two seriously injured in a roadside bomb explosion in a remote area of Salarzai tehsil in Bajaur Agency on Saturday.

Officials said a tanker carrying water to a security checkpost in the mountainous area of Mala was hit when an explosive device planted along the road went off.

Two Frontier Crops soldiers in the tanker were killed and two others suffered critical injuries.

According to local people, the tanker was partially damaged in the blast.

Volunteers of a village defence committee and residents of the area took the injured to a hospital in Khar.

The proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the bomb attack.

Calling from an unspecified place, TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid told reporters that members of his organisation had carried out the attack.

Later, security forces with the help of the members of the village committee moun­ted a search for attackers in areas surrounding the place where the bomb blast occurred. Local people said several tribesmen had been arrested under the collective responsibility clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulation.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2014