By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan

At least two security personnel including an army officer have been killed and two others wounded in a militant attack in Pakistan’s northwestern Waziristan Agency near the Afghan border on Tuesday, officials have said.

"An army convoy was on their way when some militants attacked a vehicle of the security forces in the Alikhail Miransha area of North Waziristan," the Pakistani military’s Inter Services Public Relation said in a statement.

Two soldiers, both aged 21, were killed. Those injured have been taken to military hospitals in Bannu.

Security forces cordoned off the area soon after the gun attack and launched a search operation.

No group immediately claimed the attack but Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, a militant outfit, regularly claims responsibility for attacks on security forces in the area.

Pakistan's premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi strongly condemned the terrorist attack and said these “matchless sacrifices of precious human lives, in the war against terrorism, will always be remembered as they form the most important aspect of our national history”.

North Waziristan -- one of the seven semi-autonomous tribal regions in Pakistan -- has been a battleground between the army and the Taliban since June 2014 following the launch of a full-scale military onslaught.

According to Pakistan’s army, almost 3,000 militants have been killed in the operation that left more than 200 troops dead between 2014 and 2016.