Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com). Voice of America is funded by the US Federal Government and content it exclusively produces is in the public domain. July 14, 2007 Suicide Bomber Kills 18 Soldiers in Northern Pakistan ----------------------------------------------------- http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1824CCF:A6F02AD83191E1606309154991764B729574F7DCC14957C0 Deadly attack follows protests across Pakistan Friday to denounce army's raid on radical mosque Pakistan's opposition leader Ghafoor Haideri raises a hand to condemn a military operation against the Red Mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan, 13 July 2007 Pakistan's military says 18 soldiers were killed Saturday when a suicide car bomber struck a military convoy in northwestern Pakistan. A military spokesman, Major General Waheed Arshad, says 28 soldiers also were wounded in the attack. Officials say the attacker rammed his explosives-laden car into a military convoy in North Waziristan, near the border with Afghanistan. It was the second attack on security officials in northwest Pakistan Saturday. In another incident, suspected militants detonated a bomb near a military vehicle, wounding two soldiers. Thousands of troops have been deployed to the northwest to monitor rising militant activity in the region. The attacks follow the storming of a radical mosque in Islamabad on Tuesday, killing at least 105 people. President Pervez Musharraf ordered the attack on the Red Mosque after a week-long standoff. Scores of militants and 10 Pakistani soldiers were killed during the two-day assault. Anti-government protests were held Friday in all major cities, including the capital, Islamabad, and Karachi, Peshawar and Lahore. Clerics and students at the Red Mosque had challenged government authority for several months with a campaign to impose strict Islamic law in Pakistan. Military officials say the mosque complex was being used to train militants and to plan suicide bomb attacks. Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters. .