KHAR, Pakistan — A suicide bomber killed 16 people Saturday at a police checkpoint in a northwest Pakistani tribal area where the military declared victory over the Taliban and al-Qaeda last year, highlighting the difficulty Islamabad has in holding regions once the battle phase of its army offensives end.
Elsewhere in the lawless tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, three suspected U.S. missiles killed nine alleged militants at a compound and bunker in the Mohammad Khel area of North Waziristan, part of a surge of the drone-fired strikes, intelligence officials said.
Fourteen civilians and two police officers died in the suicide attack in the Bajur tribal region, while 20 people were wounded, said local government official Bakhat Pacha.
The attacker, on foot, struck a market area in the region’s main town, Khar, he said.
The attack came a day after officials said security forces had killed 44 militants in three days of battles on the outskirts of Khar.
Pakistan waged a major military offensive against Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgents in Bajur in 2008, declaring victory over the militants by February 2009. But in recent weeks, clashes and now this latest suicide attack have signaled a deteriorating security situation in the area.
