A roadside bomb exploded near a vehicle carrying security forces in northwestern Pakistan, killing four officers and wounding five others, officials said.

The roadside bombing happened in South Waziristan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, local police officer Dilawar Khan said on Thursday.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) armed group, also known as Pakistan Taliban, has stepped up its assaults in the region since its ally, the Afghan Taliban, seized power in neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021.

Pakistan’s military in a statement on Thursday confirmed the “martyrdom” of four officers, but said security forces also responded to the attack and killed five “Khwarij”, a term used by the military for the Pakistan Taliban.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed “grief and sorrow” over the killing of the soldiers and said, “Our war against terrorists will continue until the complete elimination of terrorism from the country.”

Also on Thursday, a mortar fired by armed fighters landed near a road in the Tirah valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killing two schoolchildren who were going to school on foot, police said.

For years, Pakistan Taliban fighters have been attacking the country and its forces in a bid to overthrow the government and replace it with its interpretation of a strict Islamic system. Attacks increased since last year after it revoked a ceasefire with the government after it accused them of violating a truce.

Islamabad has also accused Kabul’s rulers of failing to root out rebels from staging attacks on Pakistan from over the border.

Last month, 10 Pakistani police officers were killed in an attack on a security checkpoint. The Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

Pakistan saw 785 armed attacks during the first 10 months of 2024, resulting in 951 deaths and 966 injuries, reflecting a persistently high level of violence across the country, according to a report by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met Chinese Ambassador Jiang Zaidong in Islamabad on Thursday to brief him about the investigation into an attack on Tuesday where a guard shot and wounded two Chinese nationals at a textile mill in Karachi, allegedly over a private dispute.

China has frequently demanded better security for its nationals who are in Pakistan to work for Beijing’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative. An unknown number of Chinese people are also working at factories in the country.