A double suicide bombing killed at least 28 people in Pakistan's tribal belt on Monday, attacking pro-government community leaders and members of an anti-Taliban militia, officials said.
Authorities in Pakistan say a suicide attack in a northwestern tribal region bordering Afghanistan has killed at least 50 people. The deadly attack took place in the Mohmand tribal district where Pakistani security forces are engaged in anti-insurgency operations.Witnesses and officials say two suicide bombers riding motorbikes and disguised as policemen detonated their devices in the main government compound in Ghalanai, the administrative center of the border region.The bombs were detonated within seconds of one another, one at the security gate and another from inside the building. The suicide bombers were in disguise and wore police uniforms.
The apparent target was said to be a traditional meeting of local officials and tribal elders discussing the formation of anti-Taliban militia."We are not scared of such attacks and will keep on taking these enemies of humanity to task until they disappear from society," said Mian Iftikhar Hussain, information minister of the northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The top government administrator in the area, Amjad Ali Khan, spoke to reporters on the scene shortly after the attack. Khan said the attacks were so deadly because the bombers had filled their suicide jackets with bullets. Nearly 100 people have been wounded, he said, and some of them are in critical condition.There were two suicide attackers, both came on motorbikes," he added, dismissing suggestions that security had been lax.
The official says that security guards caught one of the bombers at the main gate, but he was able to detonate his explosives. He said tight security arrangements were put in place for the meeting. "It was comparatively a soft target because obviously when too much public is visiting a place, you cannot ensure fool-proof security, so that is why it was targeted," said Khan.
Tribal elders, police, local officials and two journalists are among those killed in the attack.
The attack is the latest strike against local tribesmen who are being encouraged by the Pakistani government to take up arms against the Taliban to assist security forces in securing the border with Afghanistan.Last month a suicide bomber attacked a mosque in another tribal area, killing at least 70 people.Pakistani security forces have been bogged down, fighting for years against homegrown Taliban in the tribal belt, which is semi-autonomous, and parts of the northwest that come under direct government control.
"There is a need for an organized and comprehensive strategy in the fight against terrorists in Afghanistan, the tribal areas and Pakistan," Hussain said, according to the Los Angeles Times. Otherwise, we will keep suffering. There are predictions that this wave of terrorism may continue for the next 14 years. God knows what will happen if terror keeps hitting us for 14 more years.Almost all the strikes this year have been in North Waziristan, which has yet to see a Pakistani army offensive.
