Two local employees of the US consulate in Peshawar and some soldiers have been killed by an explosive device while on drug-eradication mission, US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday.
“Just this morning, I woke to the news that we had lost two local employees in Peshawar who worked with our consulate there who were going out on a effort to eradicate narcotics fields,” Kerry told an event in Washington on countering violent extremism.
“An IED exploded and several were lost; a few of the soldiers who were there to guard them also,” Kerry said.
State Department spokesman John Kirby said the incident occurred on Tuesday when the two Pakistani employees were traveling in a Pakistani government Anti-Narcotics Force convoy in Ambar tehsil, in the Mohmand Agency of Pakistan´s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
“The US government strongly condemns the attack,” Kirby said, adding that the United States was offering its assistance to Pakistan in investigating the incident and bringing the perpetrators to justice.
According to local sources, Mohmand Agency Tehsildar Faramosh Khan was on an anti-poppy drive in Ambar tehsil area along with an ANF constable and two campaigners when an IED device planted on the roadside exploded.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.
Mohmand is one of Pakistan’s seven tribal agencies near the Afghan border where the military has been battling Al-Qaeda and Taliban-linked militants for over a decade.
SOLDIERS INJURED:
Meanwhile in Wana, South Waziristan, two security personnel were critically wounded when militants attacked them in the Zangsar area of Sarwakai tehsil.
The assailants managed to flee after retaliatory action of the security forces.