ISLAMABAD
By Aamir Latif
Three security personnel were killed and seven injured on Wednesday when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into a security check post in Pakistan's troubled North Waziristan region.
"The security personnel detailed at the check post in Shawa area of Mir Ali town fired at a speeding vehicle when they spotted it approaching them," a senior security official told Anadolu Agency, wishing not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
"However, the suicide bomber managed to hit the check post," he added.
"Two security personnel embraced Shahadat (martyrdom) on the spot, while one succumbed to his wounds at the hospital," said the official.
A little-known Ansar-ul-Mujahiddin group has already claimed responsibility for the attack.
Abu Basheer, a purported spokesman for the group, told local media by phone from an undisclosed location that the attack was a "reprisal" for drone attacks and the killing of Hakimullah Mehsud, the top leader of Therik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Mehsud and two senior aides were killed in a US drone attack in North Waziristan on November 1.
Abu Basheer claimed his group had dispatched three more suicide bombers to hit security forces in different places.
The TTP, which has already rejected a government's peace talks offer, has threatened to avenge the death of its chief.
North Waziristan, the prime target of US drone attacks for the past five years, is considered a heartland of militancy and a bastion for the powerful Haqqani Network.
The Network is the most formidable faction of the Afghan Taliban and is, according to US intelligence agencies, responsible for various attacks on foreign forces in Afghanistan.
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