ISLAMABAD: More than 35 people were killed yesterday in two suicide attacks by suspected Taleban militants, and airstrikes of army helicopter gunships in northwest Pakistan, officials said.
A suicide bomber, in his early 30s blew himself up when around 200 people from the Salarzai tribe were holding a meeting in Batmale village, some 50 kilometers from Khar, the main town of Bajaur tribal district, to plan action against Taleban militants.
“According to the information we have received from the locals, 18 to 19 people have died in the blast and more than 40 are injured,” said Akhonzada Chitan, a member of Parliament from Bajaur. Chitan said among the dead was tribal elder Fazal Karim, who headed the Salarzai Lashkar, a traditional private army, which was raised against the militants two months ago and has since fought several battles against them.
Lashkar was supporting the government forces which launched a major offensive in Bajaur in early August to clear the area of Taleban and Al-Qaeda fighters launching cross-border attacks on US forces in the Afghan province of Kunar. A spokesman of Islamic militant group, Caravan-e-Naimatullah, claimed responsibility for yesterday’s suicide bombing.
Meanwhile, army helicopter gunships targeted several locations of Taleban in Bajaur late yesterday. “The locals have told us that at least 17 miscreants have died in the actions and around two dozens are injured,” a security official said.
Separately, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle next to a security checkpost near the police headquarter in Mangora, the main city in militancy-hit Swat Valley.
The district police chief Dilawar Bangash said the post that was manned jointly by the police and the paramilitary Frontier Corps was completely destroyed and two security personnel were killed while 10 others were injured.
Pakistani fighters bombarded several areas in Bajaur on Wednesday, killing 15 militants, local administration official Mohammad Jamil told AFP yesterday. Many militants had gathered in Bajaur in recent months after being driven out of other Pakistani tribal regions, especially North and South Waziristan, hundreds of kilometers to the south.
Separately yesterday, suspected militants fired rockets at the airport and blew up the main electricity transmission line in the northwest city of Peshawar, where extremists are also active.
Meanwhile, officials in restive Hangu district, also in the northwest, said an important Taleban commander was freed from custody with three of his men in exchange for three army soldiers and seven paramilitary troops. Taleban commander Maulana Rafiuddin was described at the time of his arrest in July as a deputy of the Tehreek-e-Taleban Pakistan (Taleban movement-TTP) leader Baitullah Mehsud.
