Roadside bomb kills five anti-Taliban fighters in Pakistan

A roadside bomb has claimed the lives of at least five anti-Taliban fighters and wounded two others in an area of the troubled northwestern Pakistan, intelligence sources say.

Local intelligence officials said the incident took place in South Waziristan's Spinkai area near the Afghan border on Thursday evening when a group of anti-Taliban fighters were returning from a function.

The casualties were caused after their vehicle was attacked using a remotely detonated bomb. The two wounded men were moved to a military hospital.

They were members of a volunteer militia group assisting the Pakistani military in operations against militants operating across the violence-hit region.

A faction of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for the latest deadly bomb attack.

Pakistan's military conducted massive operations against militants in South Waziristan in 2009 and continue clearing the vast tribal region. Militants, however, still show the capability to cross from the Afghan border and plant bombs along the roadside, attacking security forces or their supporters.

Also on Thursday, a notorious terrorist group known as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) claimed responsibility for an attack on a Shia mosque in the Pakistani capital a day earlier. One person was killed and at least four others injured when gunmen opened fire at worshipers leaving a Shia mosque in Islamabad.

Security has been a main issue for Shia Muslims as thousands of them have been killed as a result of militancy and hate attacks over the past decade.

Separately, two Pakistani paramilitary troops died and four were wounded in southwestern Balochistan province after stepping on a land mine during patrol late Wednesday.

SS