Suicide bomber targets Pakistan paramilitary force, 2 dead

The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack

Pakistani security officials on a vehicle patrol in a street following an attack on a Frontier Corps (FC) check post in Jamrud, a tribal area in Khyber Agency, Pakistan, EPA / Bilawal Arbab

A suicide bomber hit a vehicle carrying Pakistani paramilitary force members on Monday, killing two soldiers, including an officer, and wounding seven, a police official said. The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the attack.

Police superintendent Imran Malik said the attack happened in Peshawar, on the edge of the Khyber tribal area that borders Afghanistan. The attacker was riding a motorcycle, he added.

Pakistan's Tehrik-e-Taliban, an umbrella for Pakistani Taliban factions, was behind the attack, according to a statement by the militants' spokesman, Mohammad Khurasani, distributed to the media.

The attack came a day after the Pakistan army announced it had launched an operation in the Khyber tribal region to rout ISIL militants it said were operating in the area. ISIL in Khorasan as it is known in Afghanistan and Pakistan is based in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province which abuts Pakistan and the Khyber tribal region.

The local ISIL affiliate emerged a few years ago, mainly from disenchanted Taliban fighters espousing the ISIL's ideology.

The paramilitary force, known as the Frontier Corps, is the front-line force battling militants in Pakistan's tribal regions stretching hundreds of kilometres along its border with Afghanistan.