Suicide bomb hits Pakistan elders, 15 killed
Saturday, 11 October 2008
At least 15 people have been killed in a suicide car bomb attack at a meeting of tribal elders in a restive region of Pakistan near the Afghan border, according to BBC .
Dozens were injured in the blast at a council of local leaders in the Orakzai district, one of Pakistan's seven semi-autonomous tribal regions.
They were meeting to raise a militia to evict Taleban from the region. In recent weeks, local tribesmen have taken up arms to fight the Taleban alongside the Pakistan army.
Orakzai, near the main north-west city of Peshawar, has been relatively calm.
The BBC's Shoaib Hasan, in Pakistan, says the suicide bomber drove his car into the meeting of 600 people which was being held in open ground and blew himself up.
"We were busy in raising a lashkar [tribal militia] to evict Taleban from the region when this attack took place," Qeemat Khan Orakzai, a member of the council, told Reuters news agency.
A security official told AFP news agency: "The tribesmen blew up two hideouts of the militants a day earlier and it is possible this attack was in revenge for their actions."
The attack also comes a day after the Taleban claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing of a building belonging to an anti-terror squad in the Pakistan capital of Islamabad's main police complex.
Pro-Taleban militants on the Pakistan side of the border have been blamed for a rise in attacks on US and Nato troops in Afghanistan. Pakistan's government has allied with some of the fiercely independent tribes against the insurgents and they are currently taking on the militants in the Bajaur tribal region.
The Taleban has killed dozens of tribal elders they accuse of backing the government in recent years using roadside bombs, executions and suicide bombings.
Dozens were injured in the blast at a council of local leaders in the Orakzai district, one of Pakistan's seven semi-autonomous tribal regions.
They were meeting to raise a militia to evict Taleban from the region. In recent weeks, local tribesmen have taken up arms to fight the Taleban alongside the Pakistan army.
Orakzai, near the main north-west city of Peshawar, has been relatively calm.
The BBC's Shoaib Hasan, in Pakistan, says the suicide bomber drove his car into the meeting of 600 people which was being held in open ground and blew himself up.
"We were busy in raising a lashkar [tribal militia] to evict Taleban from the region when this attack took place," Qeemat Khan Orakzai, a member of the council, told Reuters news agency.
A security official told AFP news agency: "The tribesmen blew up two hideouts of the militants a day earlier and it is possible this attack was in revenge for their actions."
The attack also comes a day after the Taleban claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing of a building belonging to an anti-terror squad in the Pakistan capital of Islamabad's main police complex.
Pro-Taleban militants on the Pakistan side of the border have been blamed for a rise in attacks on US and Nato troops in Afghanistan. Pakistan's government has allied with some of the fiercely independent tribes against the insurgents and they are currently taking on the militants in the Bajaur tribal region.
The Taleban has killed dozens of tribal elders they accuse of backing the government in recent years using roadside bombs, executions and suicide bombings.