Islamabad, Feb 10 (DPA) At least 10 tribal policemen were killed in a suicide bombing that targeted a security convoy in Pakistan’s northwestern region near the Afghan border, officials said Wednesday.
Fifteen policemen were injured in the bombing that took place in the Khyber Agency tribal district.

The suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a vehicle carrying the policemen along a main highway leading to Afghanistan, said Manzoor Ahmad, an official of the local administration.

Khyber is plagued with Islamist militancy and has seen several deadly clashes between the Taliban fighters and government forces in the past. The rugged area hosts the main supply route for the Western forces stationed in landlocked Afghanistan.

Separately, two Pakistani soldiers died in a helicopter crash Wednesday in the same district.

The servicemen were on board a two-seat AH-1F Cobra helicopter gunship which came down because of “technical fault” in the district’s Tirah valley.

Pakistani troops are currently involved in multiple operations against the Taliban across the tribal belt.

The militants have stepped up attacks on government, military and civilian targets in response to the offensives.