SVBIED kills 13 Pakistani soldiers near Afghan border, army says

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — Paramilitary soldiers patrol during an operation near Bara, a town in the Khyber tribal region near the Afghan border, June 29, 2008. REUTERS/Mohammad Shahkar

A suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into a Pakistani military convoy on Saturday in a town near the Afghan border, killing at least 13 soldiers, the army said. 

The convoy was attacked in Mir Ali area of North Waziristan district, the army said in a statement.

"In this tragic and barbaric incident, three innocent civilians including two children and a woman also got severely injured," it said.

Fourteen militants were killed by the army in an operation launched after the attack in the region, it said.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and termed it a "cowardly act", a statement from his office said.

Pakistan's army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir said in a statement any attempt to undermine Pakistan's internal stability would be met with swift and decisive retribution.  

"It was huge, a big bang," a local administrator told Reuters, adding that residents of the town could see a large amount of smoke billowing from the scene from a great distance.

One resident said that the explosion rattled the windowpanes of nearby houses, and caused some roofs to collapse.

No one has so far claimed responsibility. 

The Pakistani military said the attack was carried out by militants backed by arch-rival India, an allegation New Delhi rejected. 

The attack was executed by an Indian proxy, the army's statement said. 

The lawless district, which sits next to Afghanistan, has long served as a safe haven for different Islamist militant groups, who operate on both sides of the border.

Islamabad says the militants run training camps in Afghanistan to launch attacks inside Pakistan, a charge Kabul denies, saying the militancy is Pakistan's domestic issue.  

India's ministry of external affairs on Sunday said it rejects a statement by the Pakistan Army seeking to blame India for the attack in Waziristan.

Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, an umbrella group of several Islamist militant groups, has long been waging a war against Pakistan in a bid to overthrow the government and replace it with its own Islamic system of governance.

The Pakistani military, which has launched several offensives against the militants, has mostly been their prime target.   

 (Writing by Asif Shahzad and Harshita Meenaktshi; Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Jane Merriman // REUTERS)