At least three Frontier Corps (FC) personnel lost their lives in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in North Waziristan's Ghulam Khan area on Sunday.

The FC personnel were on routine patrol when an IED targeting their vehicle exploded, sources within the political administration told DawnNews.

According to Inter-Services Public Relations, the IED exploded as an FC bomb disposal team was undertaking a routine search and clearance operation in the area.

The martyred FC soldiers were identified by ISPR as Naik Inayatullah Khattak, Sepoy Mohsin Ali Turi and Sepoy Sifatullah.

According to the sources, a curfew was announced in the Ghulam Khan area — which is near the Pak-Afghan border — as a result of the explosion.

Security forces have started a search for the perpetrators of the explosion.

Uptick in IED attacks

On December 5, six people were killed and eight others injured after an IED went off near an army vehicle in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan.

In a similar incident on Dec 1, five people, including the head of a peace committee, were killed and two others were injured in an IED blast in South Waziristan Agency.

According to officials, peace committee commander Wali Jan Mehsud was on his way to attend a jirga along with his brother Ahmad Jan and tribal elders when an IED device had gone off near his vehicle in Spinkai.