At least 13 soldiers were killed when a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into a military convoy in northwestern Pakistan.

On June 28, officials in North Waziristan, a district in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, said the bombing near the regions Mir Ali town during a curfew injured 10 more soldiers. At least 14 civilians were wounded in the attack.

In Miran Shah, the regional headquarters, an official said the suicide bombing hit a military truck full of soldiers responsible for disposing of bombs and other explosives.

Rahmatullah, a resident of Khadi village, the scene of the attack, told RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal that the bombing happened at 6 a.m. local time. He said the powerful bomb injured many women and children and damaged civilian homes.

Ali Amin Gandapur, the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, condemned the bombing.

Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, a local Pakistani Taliban faction in North Waziristan, claimed responsibility for the attack. The relatively small faction has claimed numerous deadly attacks in and around the rural town of Mir Ali in recent years.

The restive district of North Waziristan borders Afghanistan. It is one of the regions most affected by the return of the Pakistani Taliban.

The Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is the largest faction of the Pakistani Taliban. Thousands of its fighters have ramped up attacks on Pakistani security forces since the return to power of its allies, the Afghan Taliban, in neighboring Afghanistan in August 2021.

The TTPs violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has overshadowed relations between erstwhile allies Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban.

Islamabad has repeatedly attacked alleged TTP hideouts inside Afghanistan and demanded that the Afghan Taliban rein in the group from its violent campaign against its security forces.