Pakistan Arrests Suspects In Bombing That Killed U.S. Troops

Pakistani police inspect the site of the blast

A report says Pakistani authorities have detained 35 suspects in connection with a bombing that killed three U.S. soldiers, three schoolgirls, a Pakistani paramilitary soldier, and wounded scores of other people in northwest Pakistan, near the Afghan border.

The Associated Press quotes police official Naeem Khan as saying police detained the suspects after launching a massive search following the bombing on February 3 in Lower Dir, and were questioning the suspects in a bid to trace those responsible for orchestrating the suicide car bombing.

The attack has been claimed by the Pakistani Taliban.

The U.S. deaths marked the first known American military fatalities in the recent years of conflict in the Pakistani Afghan border region.

U.S. and Pakistani officials say the U.S. soldiers were among a small group of U.S. personnel involved in training members of Pakistan's paramilitary Frontier Corps to fight the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

Officials said the bombing hit a convoy as it was on its way to a newly opened girls' school in the Shahi Koto area of the Lower Dir district.

compiled from agency reports