A roadside bomb killed three Pakistani soldiers and wounded a dozen others near the Afghan border late Sunday, dpa quoted an official as saying. The military convoy struck the bomb in North Waziristan tribal district, a stronghold of the Afghan Taliban with links to al-Qaeda, the military's press office said. It was the first major Taliban attack on Pakistani security forces since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif last month offered talks to Islamist militants to end the bloodshed. The government said it had made initial contacts with insurgents to open peace negotiations, but this has been denied by the militants.
