PARACHINAR, Jan 5: Following an attack on a convoy taking medicines, foodstuff and other goods to Parachinar, security forces bombed suspected positions of militants and arrested 23 tribesmen in Kurram Agency on Wednesday.

The convoy going from Peshawar was escorted by paramilitary troops. A political administration official said that 22 trucks were looted and then torched in Deranri area after the attack on Tuesday on the Thall-Parachinar road.

No loss of life was reported and drivers of all the trucks managed to escape.

The tribesmen were arrested under the territorial responsibility clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulation.

Reports reaching here said that helicopter gunships shelled areas in Lower Kurram where the convoy had been attacked.

The official said that several militants, two of them foreigners, were killed in the shelling, but the claim could not be verified from independent sources.

A large number of vehicles are reported to be stranded in Thall and Hangu and the main road had been closed to traffic.

All bazaars in Parachinar were closed on Wednesday in protest against the attack on the convoy.

Elders of the Turi and Bangash tribes held a meeting in Parachinar and called for severe action against the assailants.—Correspondent