By IANS,
Islamabad : Three US soldiers were among the eight people killed in a roadside bomb blast Wednesday in Pakistan’s restive North West Frontier Province, the army said.
Up to 60 people, most of them school children, were injured in the blast which occurred near a school at Koto area in Balambat tehsil of Lower Dir district in NWFP, officials said.
The deceased Americans were military trainers for the Pakistani Frontier Corps. A Pakistani soldier and four school girls were also killed in the attack, Xinhua reported.
Several local journalists were among the injured persons, police said, adding that the blast also caused damage to the school building and nearby houses.
The bomb was planted to target the convoy of security personnel and foreign guests, who were going to Midan in Dir to attend a ceremony of reopening of school, District Police Officer of Lower Dir, Mumtaz Zarin, said.
Pakistan authorities said that Taliban militants were behind the attack, though no one has so far claimed responsibility for the blast.