PESHAWAR: Three military officials including two senior officers of the Pakistan army were martyred in a blast near Pak-Afghan border, said the Inter-Services Public Relations, media wing of the army on Sunday.

Major General Sanaullah (pictured above), Lt Colonel Tauseef and Lance Nayak Irfan Sattar were martyred in Upper Dir area when a roadside bomb went off in Bin Shahi area.

Asim Bajwa, a spokesman for the ISPR, said that two soldiers were also injured.

The ISPR said that Major General Sanaullah was General Commanding Officer (GCO) Swat Division while Tauseef was Commanding Officer 33 Baloch Regiment.

They officers were on visit to the front positions of the army along the Pak-Afghan border and were returning from the area when the incident took place.

The proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for the killing of the army officials.

The killings of the Pakistan Army’s senior officers come when the country is mulling over offering peace deal to the militants to put an end to the surging violence, which has so far killed over 40,000 people including 5,000 security officials.

Commenting over the tragic incident Rahimullah Yousafzai, the doyen of journalists in Pakistan’s North Western Province, said that Mullah Fazlullah, a fugitive leader of the Swati Taliban might be behind the IED attack.

He said that Fazlullah and his militants have sanctuaries in Afghanistan’s Noristan and Kunar provinces. Yousafzai added that the area was relatively calm as the martyred Major General often visited the region.

Saleem Khan Safi, another senior journalist and expert on Taliban militancy said that the government in Islamabad was not serious in its efforts to tackle the issue of terrorism.