Bomb kills Pakistan soldier near Afghan border

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan, July 27 (Reuters) A roadside bomb killed a Pakistani soldier and wounded two others today in a tribal region where a ceasefire with pro-Taliban militants has held for several weeks, officials said.

The incident was the first since the militants announced a ceasefire last month to give a chance to tribal elders to end the conflict in the North Waziristan tribal region on Afghan border, where hundreds of people have been killed in battles between security forces and rebels over the past year.

An army convoy heading to North Waziristan's main town of Miranshah from neighbouring Bannu city set off the explosion when as it drove by the bomb, said the region's deputy administrator Mohammad Fida Khan.

A large number of al Qaeda militants and their Taliban allies fled to Pakistan after US-led forces invaded Afghanistan in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States in 2001.

Pakistan has stationed more than 80,000 troops in semi-autonomous tribal belt, bordering Afghanistan, and killed hundreds of militants in a series of operations over the past three years.

REUTERS AB ND2024