ISLAMABAD, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- Eight soldiers were killed and 13 others injured in a suicide bombing followed by a gun attack on a military compound in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Friday, security sources said.
The incident occurred at about 8:40 a.m. local time when a suicide bomber detonated explosives near the battalion headquarters of the military in North Waziristan district, the sources told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Following the explosion, a group of armed militants entered the compound, triggering a fierce exchange of fire with security forces, the sources added.
The injured were shifted to a nearby hospital, from where the critically wounded were airlifted to a military hospital in the provincial capital of Peshawar.
A militant outfit linked to the banned terrorist group Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami claimed responsibility for the attack on social media. ■