Bomb Kills 3 Paramilitary Officers in Northwestern Pakistan

Bomb Kills 3 Paramilitary Officers in Northwestern Pakistan
A Pakistani photographer documents a shattered windshield of a vehicle of paramilitary troops at the site bomb blast in Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016. A Pakistani police official says a bomb blast has killed some paramilitary officers in the northwestern city of Peshawar. Wajid Khan says the bomb, which was apparently detonated by remote control, exploded when a patrol of paramilitary police was passing by. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)
The Associated Press
11/22/2016
Updated:
11/22/2016

PESHAWAR, Pakistan—A bombing targeted Pakistan’s paramilitary force in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Tuesday, killing three officers and wounding eight, police said.

The bomb, which was apparently detonated by remote control, went off as a patrol of paramilitary police was passing by, said police officer Wajid Khan. The eight wounded also included civilians, he said.

A Pakistani splinter Taliban group, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it deliberately struck the security forces.

Peshawar, along the edge of Pakistan’s tribal regions that have long been home to local and al-Qaida-linked militants and foreign fighters, has for years seen attacks by Islamic militants.

Tens of thousands of Pakistanis have been killed by militants in over-a-decade-long terror campaign to overthrow the government and install their own harsh brand of Islam. And despite several large-scale military operations, the militants have shown they are still capable of launching spectacular attacks.

Recent massive attacks include a suicide bombing targeting lawyers in the city of Quetta that killed 70 people, a strike at a police academy just outside Quetta that killed over 60 and an attack on a Shiite shrine in the town of Khuzdar that killed 50. All the attacks took place in Baluchistan province, where Quetta is the capital.

After the December 2014 Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar that killed over 150 people, mostly schoolchildren, Pakistan lifted a ban on death sentences and introduced trials before military courts.

On Tuesday, the army said a military court confirmed the death sentence of 10 Pakistani Taliban figures and their allies. The convicts were involved in the killings of several police and military officers, including two high-ranking officers.