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Suicide Bomber Kills At Least 26, Wounds 45 In Pakistan
[HUFFINGTONPOST] A jacket wallah went kaboom! outside a government office in a northwestern Pak city on Tuesday, killing at least 26 people and wounding 45 in an attack claimed by a breakaway Taliban group.

The bombing took place in the city of Mardan, outside the regional office of the National Database and Registration Authority, or NADRA, which issues identity cards, according to senior police officer Saeed Khan Wazir.

Wazir told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that some of the maimed were at death's door at a hospital in the nearby city of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
.

"A gunman opened fire and killed a guard upon being asked to stop for checking. Then he went kaboom! his suicide jacket," he said. Wazir said if the attacker had managed to enter the government office, he might have killed many more people.

Mohammad Qasim told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named from his hospital bed that he went to the office to receive his national identity card, which is issued at age 18.

"I was in a very happy mood today. I told my family and friends that I would receive my national identity card, but I didn't know that I would become the target of a bombing," said Qasim, who had bandages on both legs.

Shortly after the attack, a front man for the holy warrior Jamaat-ul-Ahrar group grabbed credit for the bombing, calling it a "noble act to punish NADRA because it extends support to security forces." The front man, Ahsanullah Ahsan, spoke to the AP by phone from some holy man's guesthouse an undisclosed location.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar split from the Pak Taliban two years ago.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
condemned the bombing and instructed authorities to provide the best possible treatment for the maimed.

Mardan is about 50 kilometers (30 miles) northwest of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
province, which borders Afghanistan and the North Wazoo tribal region.
Posted by: Fred 2015-12-30
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=440275