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The
Jamaat-ur-Ahrar said it detonated the remote-controlled
explosive device on Tuesday in the Mohmand agency of Pakistan's
Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), about 170 km (105
miles) from the capital, Islamabad.
"Jamaat-ur-Ahrar's mujahideen carried out a remote-controlled
bomb attack that sent a FATA secretariat employee and his driver
to hell," said a statement emailed to Reuters.
Faisal Khan and Abid Shah were killed while on a drug
eradication mission, the U.S. State Department said.
Khan was identified by U.S. authorities as the most senior
Pakistani employee at the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar. Shah was
identified as the driver, having joined the consulate in 2009 as
a security specialist.
Four other Pakistanis were wounded in the blast, the Taliban
said.
Pakistan's volatile tribal areas have been home to an insurgency
by Islamist militants under the banner of the Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP) since 2007.
The tribal areas, including Mohmand, have seen multiple rounds
of military operations reduce the TTP's capacity, but targeted
attacks against state and civilian targets are common.
Mohmand has seen increasing violence in recent weeks. On Feb.
18, Jamaat-ur-Ahrar gunmen killed nine Pakistani paramilitary
soldiers in two separate attacks.
(Additional reporting by Jibran Ahmed in Peshawar, Pakistan;
Editing by Nick Macfie)
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