ISLAMABAD / ISTANBUL

At least 13 Pakistani soldiers were killed Saturday in a suicide bombing in the country’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border, while 14 terrorists were killed by the military in subsequent operations, the Pakistani army said.

According to a Pakistani army statement, three civilians, including two children and a woman, were “severely injured” in the attack.

It accused India of being behind the attack. “In a cowardly attack, planned and orchestrated by the terrorist state of India, and executed by its proxy Fitna al Khwarij, a Security Forces convoy was targeted today in general area Mir Ali, North Waziristan District,” it said.

Rejecting the allegation, the Indian External Affairs Ministry said: “We have seen an official statement by the Pakistan Army seeking to blame India for the attack in Waziristan on 28 June. We reject this statement with the contempt it deserves.”

The attack is one of the deadliest single-day attacks on security forces in recent months in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif “strongly condemned” the attack and praised the army for the operation that killed the 14 terrorists, according to a Prime Minister’s Office statement.

A local militant group led by Hafiz Gulbahadar of North Waziristan has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Islamabad accuses Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants, who are allegedly based in Afghanistan, of carrying out terrorist attacks in Pakistan, while Kabul denies that such attacks are launched from its soil.