Bomb and mortar attacks in northwestern Pakistan killed four security officers and two schoolchildren

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – A roadside bomb exploded near a security force vehicle in Pakistan’s restive northwest, killing four officers and wounding five others, officials said Thursday. On the same day, two schoolchildren were killed when a mortar shell exploded near them elsewhere in the northwest.

The roadside bombing occurred on Wednesday in South Waziristan district, a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, local police officer Dilawar Khan said.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, have increased their attacks in the region since their ally, the Afghan Taliban, took power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021.

Later the same day on Wednesday, a mortar fired by insurgents landed near a road in Tirah Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killing two schoolchildren who were walking to school, police said.

The Pakistani military has launched dozens of operations against the Pakistani Taliban and other insurgents in South Waziristan and other former tribal areas nearby, but the militants continue to carry out frequent attacks.

On Thursday, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met with Chinese Ambassador Jiang Zaidong in Islamabad to brief him on the investigation into an attack on Tuesday in which a security guard allegedly shot and injured two Chinese nationals at a garment factory in the port city of Karachi about a private dispute.

China has frequently called for better security for its nationals staying in Pakistan to work on Beijing’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative. An unknown number of Chinese also work in factories in the country.