(AKI/DAWN) - A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a Pakistan army convoy on Sunday, killing four soldiers and six other people in the troubled Swat valley in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP). The attack occurred in the Mingora area of the valley. According to official sources, 29 people were injured. The convoy was returning after carrying out operations against militants in various areas. Official sources said that soon after the attack, security forces cordoned off the area and even police personnel were asked to keep away. The curfew in place in the valley had been relaxed in that part of the Swat district because of Eid al-Adha or the Muslim Feast of Sacrifice. Civilians were also hit as the bomber struck the convoy on a busy route. Witnesses said the vehicle used in the attack was completely destroyed while an army van, a rickshaw and a lorry were damaged. Officials said the place was strewn with bodies and human limbs. “We are still ascertaining the exact cause of the explosion, but preliminary information collected by us suggests that it was a suicide bombing,” said an official of the Mingora police station.
Pakistani forces launched a major offensive in Swat Valley in October against Islamic militants loyal to the hardline cleric Maulana Fazalullah who has tried to bring Taliban-style Islamic laws to the region. The army said it had detained four of the cleric's followers hours before Sunday's attack. Sunday's attack follows one on Friday in which more than 50 people were killed after a suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque near Peshawar, also in NWFP.