Three soldiers killed in Pakistan bomb attack

ISLAMABAD: Three soldiers, including a Major, were killed and three more injured in a bomb attack on an army convoy in Pakistan's restive Bajaur.

The convoy of the Bajaur Scouts was targeted with a remote controlled roadside bomb at Mamund in the Bajaur tribal region bordering Afghanistan, witnesses said. Officials said a major and two non-commissioned officers were killed in the blast.

The convoy was attacked as the troops were returning from night duty in the restive Bajaur area.

The attack occurred as thousands of soldiers and paramilitary troops were being deployed in sensitive areas of Pakistan ahead of the February 18 parliamentary polls. The blast was also the latest in a series of bomb attacks on Pakistan's security forces that have killed scores of personnel.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack but such blasts are usually blamed on Taliban-linked militants.

The Election Commission on Wednesday postponed polls to a constituency in the restive south Waziristan tribal region because of the poor security situation there.

Pro-Taliban militants are active in the Bajaur, where a US missile strike killed around dozens of students of a madrassa in 2006.