Suicide bomb kills 40 in Pakistan
It was the third suicide bombing in as many days in the volatile north-west, where security forces were battling pro-Taliban Islamic militants. Thousands of people were at the meeting in Darra Adam Khel in the North West Frontier Province, about 40km south of the provincial capital Peshawar. The five tribes involved wanted to finalise a resolution calling for punishing anyone who sheltered or helped militants, including those of al-Qaida and the Taliban, said Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema on state-run Pakistan Television.
Alam Khan, a tribesman who attended, said a young man walked up to a group of elders and blew himself up. “It was a huge explosion and left body parts and blood scattered on the ground,” said Ramin Khan, whose left leg and face were wounded. President Pervez Musharraf said the attack was an attempt to sabotage the peace process and reiterated the government’s “resolve and commitment” in the fight against terrorism and extremism.
Dr Hamid Afridy, the area’s chief medical officer, said he counted 40 bodies, some with severed limbs and mutilated faces, at the site.
He said they had dispatched more than 100 injured to hospitals in Peshawar and Kohat town.
Meanwhile, a prominent opposition lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan, who had been under house arrest since Musharraf declared a state of emergency more than three months ago and fired dozens of independent-minded judges, including the country’s Supreme Court justices, was freed yesterday, said police. Ahsan, who is president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, has been at the forefront of demands that Musharraf reinstate the justices.
