At least five people were killed in an explosion on Thursday evening in Pakistan’s restive northwestern tribal region, bordering Afghanistan, reported AP.

The local police said the explosive device was installed on the side of the road in the Spinkai area of Sarokai in South Waziristan. The bomb was detonated remotely to target a vehicle carrying a group of pro-government fighters and peace workers, AP quoted intelligence officials as saying. The group was part of a volunteers’ militia that helps the military in operations against militants.

Umar Arshad, an assistant administrator in South Waziristan, confirmed the details of the attack to AP. Among the dead was Wali Jan, the commander of a peace group called Peoples’ Aman Committee. Jan had earlier survived a suicide attack, according to PTI.

Such peace committee members are repeatedly targeted in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa districts
and in agencies of its Federally Administered Tribal Areas, according to GeoNews.

The Sajna group, a faction of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack, Pakistan Today and AP reported.