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Bomb attacks kill 14 in Pakistan

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At least 14 people including five security personnel are killed and some 34 others wounded in three separate bomb attacks in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region.

The first attack occurred on Thursday when a roadside bomb targeted a bus and killed seven people in the village of Hassanzo in the tribal region of Orakzai. Reports say 13 other people were also injured in the assault. Local officials said the injured were transferred to a nearby hospital for medical treatment.

Hours later, a similar attack took place in the same region where at least two people lost their lives and 10 others wounded.

The third attack happened when an attacker detonated an explosive-laden pickup truck near a checkpoint in Hangu district, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. According to local police chief Mian Mohammad Saeed, “At least five security personnel have been killed and 11 injured.”

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but police officials put the blame on pro-Taliban militants who have carried out similar assaults in the past.

Militants have carried out numerous attacks against security forces as well as civilians and managed to spread their influence in various regions of the country, despite frequent offensives by the Pakistani army.

Thousands of Pakistanis have lost their lives in bombings and other militant attacks since 2001, when Pakistan entered an alliance with the United States in the so-called “war on terror.”

Thousands more have also been displaced by the wave of violence and militancy in the country.

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