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| India-Pakistan |
| Orakzai suicide blast death toll reaches 85 |
| 2008-10-12 |
| The death toll from the Orakzai suicide blast has reached 85, while 200 were injured, Daily Times learnt on Saturday. Hospital sources, however, claimed that 75 people were dead and 165 injured. Fifty-nine victims of the suicide attack were buried in their ancestral areas on Saturday -- sixteen in Teerhai, seven in Pachuna, four in Tourab, eight in Kot, 13 in Khadezai, one in Butkeli, four in Gulab and seven in Dabori. Sixty-five bodies have been identified, and 32 out of the 65 injured brought to the Hangu District Headquarters Hospital have been taken to Peshawar. Another 65 had been admitted to Ghalju tehsil hospital, and the critically injured amongst them were shifted to hospitals in Kohat and Peshawar. Thirty-seven of the injured are being treated at the Babul Madina Medical Centre, while 65 injured were admitted to KDA Hospital in Kohat and 32 injured were admitted in Peshawar. Tribal elders told Daily Times that the blast left a 12-foot long, eight-foot deep and 10-foot wide crater. Retaliation: Tribesmen traded fire with Taliban and demolished their houses in retaliation for Friday's suicide attack, residents and officials told Reuters. "Everyone is angry and upset here. The tribesmen attacked houses of Taliban in Khadezai after the bombing. Two houses have been demolished," Noorzad Orakzai, a resident of the Khadezai area, told Reuters by telephone. Teenage bomber: One of the injured told AFP he saw the teenage bomber drive a pick-up truck laden with explosives to the edge of the crowd. "I was sitting on the outside of the jirga," Haji Kamal Shah said. "I saw a young boy, perhaps only 15 or 16, driving a Datsun pick-up. He got to the crowd and then the vehicle exploded. "People fell on the ground screaming. Some were children because (people of) all ages attended the meeting. We were discussing a tribal force against militants." Tribesmen expressed their determination to combat Taliban and Al Qaeda. "We are sad over yesterday's attack, but God willing we will defeat these terrorists," Hazrat Noor, a tribal elder, said. |
| Posted by:Fred |