DHAKA: At least nine Pakistani soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in the tribal area of North Waziristan, the military says.

The improvised explosive device was placed on the roadside between the town of Miranshah in North Waziristan and the border with Afghanistan, a military spokesperson told Al Jazeera.

The soldiers were in a bus when the bomb exploded on Thursday morning, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Pakistan’s interior minister, told journalists at a press conference.

Several were critically injured by the blast, but the military did not provide an exact figure of those wounded.

Security forces shelled suspected Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) bases in North Waziristan in retaliation for the attack, sources told Al Jazeera.

The TTP leadership is based in North Waziristan, and has been waging a war against the Pakistani state since 2007, calling for the imposition of Shariah law in Pakistan and for the country to cease supporting the US military mission in neighbouring Afghanistan.

An abortive dialogue process between the TTP and government remains at stalemate, after the TTP refused to extend a ceasefire last month.

In a separate incident on Thursday, another soldier was killed after gunmen fired on a checkpost in the South Waziristan tribal area which neighbours North Waziristan, Pakistan's military said.

Source: aljazeera.com

BDST: 1012 HRS, MAY 09, 2014