At least nine people including a woman were killed and 40 others injured when Bannu District Coordination Officer Syed Jamaluddin Shah confirmed to Daily Times that nine people had died in the attack. He said the NWFP chief minister had announced Rs 100,000 compensation for the families of the dead and Rs 50,000 for the injured. “I am not sure if the attack was in revenge for Taliban commander Abdullah Mehsud’s death,” he said.
Meanwhile, a woman lost both legs in a landmine explosion in Bajaur Agency on Wednesday. Militants had planted the landmine in the Gabri area of Mamond tehsil. The victim has been shifted to the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar. Separately, Levies personnel had a narrow escape on Wednesday when militants exploded a remote-controlled bomb near Khar Bazaar in Bajaur.
Agencies add: Overnight, militants fired a rocket at a fort manned by paramilitary troops and blew up a government utility office in Miranshah, North Waziristan, forcing authorities to shutter all government offices and banks for fear of casualties, local security officials said, AP reported. Residents say almost half of the shops in Miranshah have closed, and about 500 families have fled. In a sign of declining law and order, five masked men stole a pickup truck from a government office during daylight hours on Wednesday. In the nearby town of Mir Ali, a bomb early on Wednesday damaged a government school, local security officials said. No one was inside at the time.