Roadside bomb kills four officers and wounds five others while two schoolchildren are killed in a mortar explosion.room’ over air pollution

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) armed group, also known as Pakistan Taliban, has stepped up its assaults in the region since its ally, the Afghan Taliban, seized power in neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021.

Pakistan’s military in a statement on Thursday confirmed the “martyrdom” of four officers, but said security forces also responded to the attack and killed five “Khwarij”, a term used by the military for the Pakistan Taliban.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed “grief and sorrow” over the killing of the soldiers and said, “Our war against terrorists will continue until the complete elimination of terrorism from the country.”