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Pakistan: Boomer kills at least 8 at tribal elders meeting
 (AKI) - At least eight people were killed and 45 others were injured on Thursday when a suicide bomber blew himself up during a meeting of tribal elders in northwestern Pakistan. A remote-controlled bomb ripped through the tribal jirga or meeting of elders in the area of Salarzai in the country's troubled Bajaur agency.Civil, well-reasoned discourse, tribal style. If they didn't enjoy it they'd stop it. The injured were rushed to a nearby hospital, Geo News reported. Thursday's attack came just hours after government officials said 15 militants were killed in an air strike by the army, which has been conducting a military offensive in the semi-autonomous region since August. Bajaur, which borders Afghanistan, is considered a key area for insurgents. The army is encouraging local tribes there and elsewhere in northwest Pakistan to stand up to militants linked to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. More, from Pak Daily Times Twenty-two tribesmen were killed and 45 injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a Salarzai jirga in Bajaur Agency on Thursday. The blast targeted a lashkar (volunteer militia) in Batmalani, about 40 kilometres northeast of agency headquarters Khar. "Two to three hundred members of the lashkar were finalising their strategy after demolishing houses of Taliban when the blast occurred," said local police official Fazal-e-Rabi. Malik Rahimullah, a tribal elder, said the explosion occurred as soon as armed contingents began to move. mong the dead were lashkar head Malak Fazal Karim and his aides Malak Wazir Khan and Malak Sakhi. Officials initially said it appeared that a remote-controlled bomb was used, but later said body parts of an apparent suicide bomber were found, and that witnesses said they saw a young man rushing into the crowd. Hospital officials said the death toll was likely to rise because several of the injured were in critical condition. A man claiming to be a member of a previously unheard-of 'Karwan-e-Nematullah' accepted responsibility for the attack in telephone calls to journalists. Posted by: Fred 2008-11-07 |
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