Landmine kills five in Pakistan near Afghan border

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (Reuters) – Five people including two
women were killed in a land mine explosion in Pakistan’s
restive tribal region near the Afghan border on Monday,
intelligence officials said.

The incident occurred in the North Waziristan tribal region
where around 200 tribesmen were killed in clashes with security
forces last month after they answered a call to arms by
militant Muslim clerics following a special forces assault on
an al Qaeda camp.

The victims were traveling in a vehicle in Dattakhel area
near North Waziristan’s main town of Miranshah when it struck a
land mine.

“Five people were killed on the spot while the sixth is in
critical condition,” said an intelligence official.

The incident took place a day after one soldier was killed
and 10 people wounded in clashes in the region, which is
infested with al Qaeda and Taliban fighters and their local
sympathizers.

President Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in the U.S.-led war
on terror, last month warned foreign militants hiding in the
tribal region to leave Pakistan or face annihilation.

A large number of al Qaeda remnants and Taliban fled to
Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal belt after U.S.-led forces
toppled the radical Taliban regime in Afghanistan following the
September 11, 2001 attacks on Washington and New York.