At least five people, government officials were killed on Thursday as a roadside bomb targeting an anti-Taliban militia ripped through a pick-up vehicle in Pakistan’s tribal belt.

At least five people, government officials were killed on Thursday as a roadside bomb targeting an anti-Taliban militia ripped through a pick-up vehicle in Pakistan's tribal belt.

The blast badly damaged the pick-up in a remote village close to the Afghan border, in the northwestern district of Bajaur, where Pakistani troops have been fighting for years to dislodge Taliban militants.

 "It was a planted IED (improvised-explosive device) which exploded when the vehicle passed. Five people have been killed and eight others were wounded," Adalat Khan, a government official in Chamarkand village, told AFP by phone.
"Three of those who died are members of an anti-Taliban militia and one is a 10-year-old boy. The fifth one is the driver."

Irshad Shah, another government official, confirmed the casualties although there were fears that the death toll could rise.