Suicide bombing kills 2 Pakistani soldiers, including lieutenant colonel in restive northwest

Pakistan's military says a suicide bomber has rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a security convoy in northwest Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, killing two soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel

ISLAMABAD -- A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a security convoy in northwest Pakistan bordering Afghanistan on Saturday, killing two soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel, the Pakistani military said.

It said the attack took place in Bannu, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where security forces have battled militants for years.

The military said Pakistan would not “exercise any restraint” and that operations against those responsible for the violence would continue “irrespective of their location,” language that appeared to signal rising tensions between Islamabad and Kabul.

No group claimed responsibility, but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban who have been blamed for previous such attacks. There was no immediate statement from the Afghan government.

The latest attack came two days after Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry summoned a senior Afghan diplomat and lodged a strong protest over a recent deadly attack on a security post that killed 11 Pakistani soldiers and a girl in the Bajaur district near the Afghan border.