Pakistani Taliban deny attacking convoy of foreign ambassadors in restive northwest

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Pakistani Taliban on Monday denied involvement in a bombing attack on a police convoy that was escorting foreign ambassadors in the country’s restive northwest, as authorities said they were still trying to determine who was behind the attack, which killed a police officer.

The ambassadors and senior envoys were traveling on Sunday to the Swat Valley, a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, when the attack occurred in Malam Jabba, one of Pakistan’s two ski resorts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but Mohammad Khurasani, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, denied detonating the improvised explosive device that hit a police vehicle accompanying the convoy.

One police officer was killed and four others were wounded in the attack, which drew strong condemnation from Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other officials.

The envoys were all unharmed, but the attack suggested there was a security breach, analysts said.

“For sure it was a security breach because the convoy’s route was only known to police, and the bomb disposal unit had reportedly cleared the route,” said Abdullah Khan, a defense analyst and managing director of the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies.

“Some insider (appears to have) leaked the information about the travel plans of the foreign ambassadors to the militants,” he added.

Khan said the attack signaled a shift in the approach of insurgents, who previously targeted security forces.

Pakistani defense analyst Syed Muhammad Ali said there was a need for better coordination between federal authorities and