Roadside Bomb Kills Five, Including Soldier In Northwestern Pakistan

At least five people including a soldier were killed in northwestern Pakistan on May 22 when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb, officials say.

The incident occurred in Tirah Valley, in the Khyber tribal district near the Afghan border, local administration official Manzoor Bukhari said.

The vehicle was totally destroyed by the device, and there were no survivors, Bukhari added.

Besides the soldier, the dead included four members of a local militia, an RFE/RL correspondent reported.

At least four Pakistani police officers were killed in a shootout with suspected Taliban insurgents over the weekend in the same region.

Tirah once served as a hideout for Islamist militants before they were chased out in a military offensive.

The Pakistani military has pushed Islamist militants back from their mountainous hideouts near the Afghan border in a series of offensives launched from mid-2014.

With additional reporting by dpa