(MENAFN- The Peninsula) A series of militant attacks across Pakistan yesterday left at least 27 people dead, including two officials overseeing security for a polio vaccination drive.
Pakistan's armed forces launched a major offensive against Islamist militant strongholds in June which stemmed the tide of near-daily attacks the country had endured in recent years, but violence now appears to be on the rise again.
Five separate strikes hit yesterday, including two roadside bombs, an attack on a military post and a car bombing targeting a judge.
At least five soldiers and 15 militants were killed in a gunfight after insurgents attacked a checkpost of the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) in Orakzai, one of seven restive semi-autonomous tribal regions on the Afghan border.
"More than 50 militants attacked the checkpost. Two soldiers embraced shahadat (martrydrom) while 15 terrorists were killed in an exchange of fire," a senior security official said.
Six soldiers sustained injures in the attack, he said, adding that the militants fled after the FC troops retaliated.
Another security official confirmed the incident and casualties.
In Bajaur, another tribal area on the Afghan border, a roadside bomb killed two security officials responsible for security arrangements for an ongoing polio vaccination drive, local government official Sohail Khan said.
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