Wire: 3 US Troops Killed, 1 Wounded Inside Pakistan

Off the Wire:

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3, 2010 -- Newswire services this morning reported that three U.S. soldiers traveling with Pakistan security force members were killed Wednesday and one wounded in a roadside bombing in northwest Pakistan that also injured dozens of schoolgirls, officials said.

The Associated Press said the soldiers were in the region as part of an unpublicized U.S. mission to train members of the paramilitary Frontier Corps to better fight al-Qaida and Taliban militants, Pakistan's army said.

The U.S. Embassy declined to comment. If the deaths are confirmed by American authorities, they would represent a major victory for militants close to the Afghan border who have been hit hard in recent months by a surge in U.S. missile strikes and a major Pakistani army offensive.

The attack, which killed at least four other people and wounded 70, will draw attention to the presence of U.S. troops on Pakistan soil at a time when anti-American sentiment over perceived violations of sovereignty is running high. U.S. and Pakistani authorities rarely talk about the training program out of fear it could generate a backlash.

AP reported that U.S. troops have been training Pakistan's Frontier Corps since at least 2008.

The training program was never officially announced, AP said.

(Report from newswire sources.)