Twenty four soldiers were killed and 65 wounded in a bomb blast near a security convoy in northwestern Bannu district adjacent to North Waziristan on Sunday, officials said.
"Twenty four troops have embraced shahadat (martyrdom) while 65 are injured in the bomb blast at Razmak gate of the town of Bannu," a senior army official told Anadolu Agency on the condition of anonymity.
Tehrik-e-Taliban in Pakistan has claimed the responsibility for the deadliest attack after killing of Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud in a US drone strike in North Waziristan on November 1, 2013.
Security convoys usually go and back from troubled North Waziristan to Bannu on Sundays as a curfew is in place on the entire Bannu-Miranshah road to ensure safe movement of troops.
"As long as the government forces do not desist from committing atrocities against Mujahideen and Tribal people, our attacks will continue," Shahidullah Shahid a purported TTP spokesman told a local TV channel from an undisclosed location.
He said Taliban would hold peace talks only with a government that would actually have authority to abide by a peace agreement if struck between the two sides.
The TTP has waged a fresh series of attacks on security forces to avenge the death of Mehsud who was killed when the stage was almost set for peace talks between the Taliban and the government.
Sunday's ambush was the 8th attack on security forces since November 1. Some 35 soldiers have been killed and around 100 wounded in those attacks. Pakistan government says it wants to hold peace talks with Taliban to end over a decade-long militancy that have killed thousands of Pakistanis, including over 4,000 security personnel.
By Aamir Latif
