PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani police say unknown gunmen have killed three soldiers in the northwestern city of Peshawar.

Police officer Shaukat Khan said gunmen struck Sunday morning, attacking a private vehicle carrying the three soldiers. Khan said attackers fled the scene on a motorcycle and a search operation was underway.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack but Islamic militants have been involved in multipole such attacks in and around the provincial capital surrounded by lawless tribal regions. </s> PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Two gunmen on a motorcycle killed three soldiers Sunday near the northwestern city of Peshawar, police said.

The gunmen struck in Garhi Sohbat Khan on the outskirts of Peshawar, the capital of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, attacking a private vehicle carrying the three soldiers.

The attackers used handguns to target the soldiers, who were returning from a military dairy farm after fetching milk for officers, Khan said.

No one claimed responsibility, but Islamic militants have been involved in multiple such attacks in and around the provincial capital surrounded by lawless tribal regions.

Dad Mohammad, another area police officer, said the incident was second of the nature in this area — which is close to Mohmand tribal region. Last week gunmen shot and killed a prominent physician who was instrumental in anti-polio campaigns, he said.

The Mohmand tribal region had been a longtime hotbed for Islamic militants and the Pakistani army has carried out several operations to eliminate militant hideouts.

But the militants have repeatedly struck back. Last Friday, a suicide bomber killed 36 worshippers during Friday prayers in the Ambar area of Mohmand. Jamaatul Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the Taliban, claimed responsibility for that attack. </s> PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Two gunmen on a motorcycle killed three soldiers Sunday near the northwestern city of Peshawar, police said.

The gunmen struck in Garhi Sohbat Khan on the outskirts of Peshawar, the capital of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, attacking a private vehicle carrying the three soldiers.

The attackers used handguns to target the soldiers, who were returning from a military dairy farm after fetching milk for officers, Khan said.

No one claimed responsibility, but Islamic militants have been involved in multiple such attacks in and around the provincial capital surrounded by lawless tribal regions.

Dad Mohammad, another area police officer, said the incident was second of the nature in this area - which is close to Mohmand tribal region. Last week gunmen shot and killed a prominent physician who was instrumental in anti-polio campaigns, he said.

The Mohmand tribal region had been a longtime hotbed for Islamic militants and the Pakistani army has carried out several operations to eliminate militant hideouts.

But the militants have repeatedly struck back. Last Friday, a suicide bomber killed 36 worshippers during Friday prayers in the Ambar area of Mohmand. Jamaatul Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the Taliban, claimed responsibility for that attack. </s> PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Two gunmen on a motorcycle killed three soldiers Sunday near the northwestern city of Peshawar, police said.

The gunmen struck in Garhi Sohbat Khan on the outskirts of Peshawar, the capital of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, attacking a private vehicle carrying the three soldiers, said Shaukat Khan, a senior police officer.

The attackers used handguns to target the soldiers, who were returning from a military dairy farm after fetching milk for officers, Khan said.

Jamaatul Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack. Ahsanullah Ahsan, spokesman for the group, said in a statement that the three soldiers were targeted by the group to avenge the “military’s animosity with mosques.”

Islamic militants have been involved in multiple such attacks in and around the provincial capital surrounded by lawless tribal regions.

Dad Mohammad, another area police officer, said the incident was second such attack in this area — which is close to Mohmand tribal region. Last week gunmen shot and killed a prominent physician who was instrumental in anti-polio campaigns, he said.

The Mohmand tribal region had been a longtime hotbed for Islamic militants and the Pakistani army has carried out several operations to eliminate militant hideouts.

But the militants have repeatedly struck back. Last Friday, a suicide bomber killed 36 worshippers in a mosque during weekly prayers in the Ambar area of Mohmand. Jamaatul Ahrar claimed responsibility for that attack too.

Associated Press writer Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan contributed to this report. </s> PESHAWAR: At least three policemen were killed by unknown gunmen when their vehicle was ambushed here Sunday, police said.

The police van was targetted by three armed assailants in Khazana area, an outskirt of Peshawar District.

The gunmen fired 12 bullets from 9 mm rifle killing the three policemen and escaped from the scene. </s> PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A pair of suicide bombers attacked a Pakistani training facility belonging to the country’s frontier troops early on Friday, killing an officer, while an overnight cross-border attack in the Khyber tribal region killed two troops, officials said.

According to Liaquat Ali Khan, the commandant of the Frontier Constabulary, the attackers sneaked into the training facility in northwestern Pakistan to try to “cause maximum casualties.”

Over 70 recruits were staying at the facility, located near the town of Charsadda. Khan said the guards quickly responded and a shootout with the attackers set off their explosives’ vests. One of the guards died in the explosion while two officers were wounded, he added.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Hours earlier, in the Khyber tribal region, the cross-border attack late Thursday left two Pakistani soldiers and six suspected militants dead, a military statement said.

Asad Mansoor, a spokesman for the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar breakaway faction of Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the group’s fighters targeted the army post and warning of more such attacks.

Later Friday, the military said it had launched airstrikes in the Khyber region the previous night after receiving intelligence about the presence of a local militant leader, Mangal Bagh. Several suspects were killed, it added, providing no further details. It did not elaborate on the fate of Bagh, who has escaped such airstrikes in recent years.

Pakistani militant have carried out numerous attacks in the country over the last decade, killing thousands of people, including police and paramilitary forces.

The country’s boundary with neighboring Afghanistan is especially volatile and Islamabad claims many of the attacks in Pakistan are orchestrated from militant safe havens next door. After a string of suicide attacks killed more than 125 people in Pakistan last month, Islamabad closed the Pakistan-Afghan border indefinitely.

Associated Press Writer Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report. </s> QUETTA, Pakistan — A Pakistani official says gunmen have ambushed a bus and killed 14 passengers after forcing them off the vehicle on a highway in the country's southwest.

Local official Jehangir Dashti says it was unclear who was behind the killings before dawn Thursday.

He says about three dozen people were traveling to the southwestern port of Gawadar when gunmen stopped the bus and killed 14 people after checking their identity cards. The motive behind the killings is not known.

No one has claimed responsibility for the killings but Baluchi separatists often target security forces and people from Punjab, who tend to dominate the ranks of the military stationed in Baluchistan whom the separatists are fighting.

Separatists have waged a low-level insurgency in Baluchistan, demanding a fairer share of the province's resources.
Two gunmen kill three Pakistani Army soldiers near the city of Peshawar.