PESHAWAR -- A suicide bomber struck a vehicle carrying members of the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) in Pakistan's northwest Monday (July 17), killing two and wounding six others, police said, in an attack claimed by the Taliban.
The attack took place in the Hayatabad area of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.
The blast came a day after the Pakistani military said it has launched a fresh ground operation in a strategically important valley in the region.
"A suicide bomber hit the FC vehicle in Hayatabad killing two men and wounding six others, including two FC soldiers and four civilians," local senior police official Imran Malik told AFP.
Another senior police official, Sajjad Khan, confirmed the attack and casualties, which the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP, or Pakistani Taliban) claimed in a statement.
On Sunday (July 16) the military announced the new ground operation in the Rajgal Valley in Khyber Agency, one of the seven semi-autonomous tribal regions along the border with Afghanistan.
The offensive is part of Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad, which was launched after a wave of attacks across the country in February.
