Bomb attack kills six soldiers in tribal belt

A bomb attack killed six Pakistani soldiers in one of the most lawless parts of the country's north- western tribal belt on Friday, security officials said, the third deadly attack this week.

A member of the Pakistani army patrols in Karachi Reuters

The spate of killings of paramilitary troops in the tribal belt follows a relative lull in violence as the military and government focused on relief efforts for 20 million people hit by catastrophic floods.

Washington has branded the tribal belt a global headquarters of Al-Qaeda and wants Pakistan to do more to fight insurgents streaming across its border into Afghanistan, pressing its ally on the issue during talks this week.

The device exploded as the convoy was moving through the Yakh Kandaw area of Orakzai, one of the districts where Taliban militants have fled after punishing offensives elsewhere in the north-west.

A paramilitary official from the Frontier Corps said the dead included a colonel, and said two other troops were wounded.

Pakistan flatly denies US suggestions it is not doing enough to tackle Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants who have carved out strongholds in the north-west and last year inched closer towards the capital Islamabad.

According to Pakistani military statistics, 2,421 army and paramilitary soldiers were killed and 7,195 wounded in fighting with Islamist militants from 2002 until April this year.