2nd LD Writethru: Pakistani Taliban splinter group claims suicide attack in tribal region

A splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban on Wednesday claimed responsibility for suicide bombing in a northwestern tribal region which killed at least three security personnel.

The military said earlier that a terrorists' bid was foiled in Mohmand tribal agency as the security agencies had the intelligence about intrusion of suicide bombers from neighbouring Afghanistan inside the area.

"One suicide bomber blew himself up once spotted and challenged by security agencies at the gate of Political Agent office while another was shot by the sentries at the gate," an army statement said. A search operation was also carried out in the area.

Jamaat ul Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, said it was behind the attack.

The group's spokesman Asad Mansoor said in a statement sent to the local media that two bombers took part in the attack.

On Tuesday the Islamabad's Red Mosque described the Ahrar group of the Taliban as anti-Islam and said the group's terrorist activities have nothing to do with the religion.

Ahrar uses the name of a senior religious scholar Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who was killed in an operation by the security forces in 2007.

The mosque said it cannot endorse the terrorist acts of the group. Endit