Bomb Kills Two Sunni Muslims in Pakistan

A bomb Tuesday killed two Sunni Muslims and wounded two others in a restive Pakistani tribal region bordering Afghanistan, officials said.

The explosion occurred in the Shiite-dominated Pewaar area of the Kurram tribal region, in what appeared to be a targeted sectarian killing.

"A vehicle hit a landmine in Pewaar, leaving two Sunni Muslims dead and two others wounded," a local intelligence official told AFP.

He said the area had seen sectarian violence in the past and the bomb was planted on a route that Sunni Muslims use.

Another local intelligence official confirmed the incident.

In a separate incident Tuesday a roadside bomb ripped through two military vehicles and wounded at least 24 Pakistani soldiers in the North Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanistan, officials said.

The bomb exploded when the convoy was passing through Gosh village, 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of the town of Miranshah.

North Waziristan is a hub for Taliban and Al-Qaida-linked militants on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

"At least 24 soldiers were wounded in an IED (improvised explosive device) attack on a military convoy," a security official told AFP.

Local intelligence officials confirmed the attack and casualties.

Nobody immediately claimed responsibility, but Taliban militants have targeted troops in the past.

Kurram, which is one of seven semi-autonomous tribal regions, has a history of sectarian clashes between Sunnis and the country's minority Shiite community.

There has been a rise in sectarian violence in Pakistan since several deadly clashes between Sunnis and Shiites near the capital Islamabad in November.

A senior Shiite leader and his guard were killed in Karachi in early December.

Three days later Shamsur Rehman Muawiya, chief of the Sunni extremist organization Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jammat for Punjab province, was killed in Lahore.