2 killed, 7 injured in Pakistan roadside explosion

ISLAMABAD, May 26 -- At least two soldiers were killed and seven others injured in a roadside bomb attack on a convoy in northwestern Pakistan's tribal region on Saturday morning, the military said.

    The convoy was heading to Wana, the center of South Waziristan, from Tank, a major town at the edge of Waziristan tribal region, the army spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said.

    "A convoy was heading to Wana from Tank at 7:15 a.m. (GMT 0215),when it was attacked with improvised device," Arshad said. "Two security men were killed and seven were injured."

    Wana, some 380 km southwest of Pakistani capital city Islamabad, is located in the so-called Federally-Administrated Tribal Areas, a semi-autonomous tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.

    The attack came days after the military raided a training camp in North Waziristan tribal region on May 22, killing four suspected militants.

    No one claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack but such attacks are usually blamed on pro-Taliban elements.

    The military spokesman said security forces are investigating into who was behind the attack.

    The security forces cordoned off the area soon after the attack, reports quoting witnesses said.

    The injured were shifted to a military hospital in the region. TV channel reports said that two injured soldiers are in critical condition.

    Since joining Washington-led war on terror in the wake of Sept.11, 2001 attack on the U.S., the Pakistani government has so far sent some 90,000 troops to the border areas to hunt Taliban and al-Qaeda members who sneaked into Pakistan for shelter.

    In an effort to restore peace and expel foreign militants out in the tribal areas, Pakistani authorities have entered into peace agreements with South Waziristan's tribal elders in 2005.

    Pakistan has started selectively to build fence along the 2,500-km-long border with Afghanistan and also claimed that it has installed some 1,000 checkpoints on the border to curb illegal movement of fighters.

    But things have been far from smooth in Pakistani authorities' efforts to secure the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, where majority of the residents share the same ethnic background and close historical links with tribesmen in eastern Afghanistan.

    Hundreds of Pakistani soldiers have died in the numerous clashes or attacks with or by militants in the tribal areas since years ago.