<p>A lieutenant colonel was among six Pakistani soldiers killed when the vehicle they were travelling in was targeted with a roadside bomb in Yakh Kandao area of Orakzai tribal agency, TV news channels said, adding two other security personnel were seriously injured in the attack.<br /><br />The injured were taken to a hospital in Kohat, the main city in the area.<br />Orakzai is considered a stronghold of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and the militants regularly target security forces and pro-government tribal elders in the area. Al-Qaeda is also active in the region.<br /><br />Additional security forces were sent to the area where the blast occurred.<br /><br />In another attack, a blast ripped through a mosque packed with Friday worshippers on the outskirts of the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, killing three people and injuring 20 others.<br /><br />The incident occurred at the mosque situated in Pishtakharra area when worshippers were offering prayers, 'Dunya News' reported.<br /><br />Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain termed the terror attack as a reaction to the ongoing military offensive against militants in the country's restive northwest.<br /><br />Police said 1.5 kilogram of explosives were used in the attack. Preliminary reports said the bomb was planted at the mosque's verandah.<br /><br />No group has so far claimed responsibility for today's bomb attacks in Orakzai and Peshawar.<br /><br />Separately, at least three men were injured when two groups opened fire at each other at PIMS Hospital in Islamabad, 'Geo News' reported.<br /><br />It quoted unnamed sources as saying that two groups clashed at the Hospital over an old family dispute. The gunmen managed to flee crime scene, the report said.</p>
<p>A lieutenant colonel was among six Pakistani soldiers killed when the vehicle they were travelling in was targeted with a roadside bomb in Yakh Kandao area of Orakzai tribal agency, TV news channels said, adding two other security personnel were seriously injured in the attack.<br /><br />The injured were taken to a hospital in Kohat, the main city in the area.<br />Orakzai is considered a stronghold of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and the militants regularly target security forces and pro-government tribal elders in the area. Al-Qaeda is also active in the region.<br /><br />Additional security forces were sent to the area where the blast occurred.<br /><br />In another attack, a blast ripped through a mosque packed with Friday worshippers on the outskirts of the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, killing three people and injuring 20 others.<br /><br />The incident occurred at the mosque situated in Pishtakharra area when worshippers were offering prayers, 'Dunya News' reported.<br /><br />Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain termed the terror attack as a reaction to the ongoing military offensive against militants in the country's restive northwest.<br /><br />Police said 1.5 kilogram of explosives were used in the attack. Preliminary reports said the bomb was planted at the mosque's verandah.<br /><br />No group has so far claimed responsibility for today's bomb attacks in Orakzai and Peshawar.<br /><br />Separately, at least three men were injured when two groups opened fire at each other at PIMS Hospital in Islamabad, 'Geo News' reported.<br /><br />It quoted unnamed sources as saying that two groups clashed at the Hospital over an old family dispute. The gunmen managed to flee crime scene, the report said.</p>