KHAR, 6 February 2007 — Two tribal notables were killed when a roadside bomb went off in Pakistan’s restive northwest region, near the Afghan border, officials said. No one claimed responsibility for the attack in Bajaur, the most northerly region in the country’s tribal belt, though Al-Qaeda-linked militants active in these areas have been blamed for such incidents in the past.
Political Agent of Bajaur Agency Shakil Qadir told Arab News, “It was a roadside bomb or perhaps a land mine planted by militants and detonated by a remote-controlled device.” The deceased were Malik Jabbar and Malik Makeen.
The tribal elders were traveling in a car through Sayed Charmangh area, some 20 km east of Bajaur’s main town of Khar, when the bomb went off.
“The two men died instantly while their third colleague sustained injuries and has been hospitalized,” a local government official said.
Bajaur and North and South Waziristan regions, which lie on the southern end of the tribal belt, pose the greatest security threat among Pakistan’s seven Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Up to 20 people were killed in an airstrike by Pakistan Army helicopters on a militant camp in South Waziristan last month.
