‘Schoolboy’ bomber kills 31 army recruits

A teenage suicide bomber killed up to 31 Pakistani army recruits at a parade ground yesterday, an attack the Taliban said was revenge for US drone strikes and local military offensives.

Wearing a school uniform, the young teen blew himself up at the parade inside a heavily guarded military compound just outside the town of Mardan, killing the soldiers with shrapnel and explosives, officials said.

It was the deadliest suicide bombing in Pakistan since a woman with a bomb strapped under her burqa killed 43 people at a UN food distribution point on Christmas Day in the tribal district of Bajaur.