Suicide Attack Targets Military Convoy in Pakistan, Killing 13 Soldiers

In a suicide attack on Saturday, June 28, 13 Pakistani soldiers were killed and 29 others, including civilians and military personnel, were injured when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into a military convoy in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwest Pakistan, according to government and security officials.

"A suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into a convoy of soldiers," a local government official, who requested anonymity, told Agence France-Presse, adding that the initial toll of the attack included "13 soldiers killed and 29 injured (10 soldiers and 19 civilians)."

The attack comes amid tensions between Islamabad and Afghan Taliban authorities, with Pakistani accusations of facilitating the movement of armed elements across the borders. Relations between the two countries have also soured significantly due to the Afghan refugee issue, as Pakistan has recently started a campaign to deport thousands of them.

In a further escalation of the dispute, the Afghan embassy in Islamabad accused Pakistani authorities in February of "arresting Afghans and forcing them to leave major cities without prior notice," according to an official statement. The embassy added: "This arrest operation, which started without any official announcement, was not officially communicated to the Afghan embassy in Islamabad through any formal correspondence."

Pakistan hosts approximately 1.45 million registered Afghan refugees with the UN Refugee Agency, in addition to hundreds of thousands of unregistered ones, amid growing security concerns about some being used as cover for armed activities.