North Waziristan [Pakistan], June 28 (ANI): Over a dozen soldiers have been killed and several others injured in a suicide attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, officials said, according to Al Jazeera.

The Al Jazeera report said that Saturday's attack was carried out in Khadi Market, Mir Ali, North Waziristan, according to a local media outlet, Khyber Chronicles, which quoted security sources.

The report cited security officials as saying the attacker detonated explosives near a bomb disposal unit vehicle, killing 13 people.

At least 24 personnel, including 14 civilians, were also injured in the attack, Al Jazeera cited the media report as saying.

Al Jazeera reported that the attack was one of the deadliest single-day assaults on Pakistani security forces in recent months in the volatile Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region. There was no immediate comment from the Pakistani military. The suicide bombing was claimed by the Hafiz Gul Bahadur armed group, a faction of the Pakistan Taliban (TTP).

Pakistan has witnessed a sharp surge in violence in its border regions with Afghanistan since the Taliban's return to power in Kabul in 2021, the report said. Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban of allowing its territory to be used for launching attacks on Pakistan -- an allegation that the Taliban continues to deny.

Four Pakistani security personnel were killed in a terror attack in Spinwam tehsil of Pakistan's North Waziristan in February, Dawn had reported, citing sources.

The attack took place in the Darweshta area of Spinwam. A heavy exchange of fire took place where both sides after the security forces retaliated, the report said.

Four security personnel were killed, while two others were injured. The killed and injured security personnel were airlifted to the Combined Military Hospital, Bannu. Dawn had reported citing sources, that three terrorists were also killed in the exchange of fire.

Security forces had cordoned off the area after the attack. (ANI)