A roadside bomb in northwest Pakistan has killed three U.S. soldiers and four others traveling to the reopening ceremony of a girls school recently renovated with U.S. assistance.
Pakistani officials say at least three children died in the attack and more than 60 people were wounded.
The bomb exploded in a village in the Lower Dir district near Swat Valley, a region the Pakistani military says was largely cleared of militants in an offensive a year ago.
A statement from the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad said the American military personnel were part of an ongoing training program with paramilitary troops in the northwest. It said the soldiers had traveled to Lower Dir to attend the inauguration ceremony for the girls' school.
Pakistani and U.S. officials have condemned the attack.
No American combat troops are officially stationed in Pakistan. U.S. aid initiatives in northwest Pakistan are aimed in part at strengthening paramilitary forces and improving local civilian governments to better counter Taliban and al Qaida influence in the region.
On Tuesday, suspected U.S. drones fired missiles at several suspected militant hideouts in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region, killing at least 16 people.
North Waziristan is known as a base for the Taliban-allied Haqqani group, which is blamed for cross-border attacks against U.S., NATO and Afghan troops in Afghanistan.
U.S. officials do not publicly comment on the drone strikes, which have raised tensions between Pakistan and the United States in the past.
Meanwhile, the death toll from four days of violence in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi has reached at least 26, after at least six more people were killed Tuesday.
The clashes appeared to be between activists from rival political parties - the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the Awami National Party - which traditionally gather support from different ethnic groups.
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