A bomb killed the former leader of a pro-government militia and seven others in northwestern Pakistan, officials said Wednesday in an attack alleged by the local Taliban.

The blast occurred Tuesday night in the town of Kabal in the Swat Valley, which was largely ruled by Pakistan’s Taliban during a 2007-2009 insurgency.

For years, Islamabad encouraged vigilante groups known as peace committees to defend their villages against militants.

Most have been disbanded since the uprising was largely crushed and security improved across the country.

Swat District Police Officer Zahid Nawaz Marwat told AFP that former Peace Committee head Idrees Khan was killed when his pickup truck was hit by a roadside bomb.

Another local police officer confirmed the death toll, including two local police officers, two private guards and three workers.

The attack was claimed by the outlaw Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), who said Khan had a hand in the killing of its members.

The group also claimed responsibility for a clash with the Pakistani military that killed three soldiers Tuesday in Kurram district on the border with Afghanistan.

The TTP declared an indefinite ceasefire in June to facilitate Afghan-brokered peace talks, but clashes have erupted regularly since, although both sides said the ceasefire was still ongoing.

Since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan last year, Islamabad has regularly complained of TTP attacks, particularly along its porous border.

The Pakistani and Afghan Taliban are separate groups but share a common ideology.