Three Pakistani girls killed in landmine blast

KHAR, Pakistan, May 29 (Reuters) Three Pakistani girls were killed by a landmine explosion today in a trouble-plagued region on the border with Afghanistan, a government official said.

The girls were killed while fetching water in the Bajaur tribal region, where government forces have been trying to apprehend Islamist militants, including al Qaeda members.

A government officer in the region, Mamoor Khan, said the mine was recently planted, not left over from decades of conflict along the border.

''We have no idea who planted the landmine. We are investigating,'' Khan said in the region's main town, Khar.

Pakistani forces have been trying to root out Islamist militants who fled to the lawless border region after US and Afghan opposition forces ousted the Taliban from power in Afghanistan in late 2001.

In a separate incident on the long, porous border, a bomb went off on a road as a convoy of paramilitary forces was passing in the North Waziristan region, a government official said.

There were no casualties or damage, he said.

Security forces and Islamist militants have battled frequently in the rugged Waziristan region over the past few years.

Clashes have intensified since an airstrike on an al Qaeda compound in early March. According to the military, more than 300 militants, including foreigners, have been killed since then.

REUTERS SHB KP1816