KHAR: Tribesmen in Bajaur on Saturday buried the victims of a deadly suicide attack as the death toll rose to 29, officials said.
Government offices and private markets in Bajaur remained closed to mourn the deaths as local tribesmen held funerals in different parts of the district, witnesses said.
A teenage suicide bomber blew himself up on Friday in a bustling square in Khar, the main town of Bajaur tribal district, near the Afghan border.
Paramilitary troops and tribal police were seen patrolling the streets and bazaars on Saturday while roads and markets were deserted with educational institutions closed.
"Five critically injured succumbed to their injuries overnight in hospitals. The death toll has now risen to 29," Jahanzeb Dawar, a senior hospital official in Khar, told AFP.
It was the deadliest bombing in Pakistan since February 17, when 31 people were killed by a suicide attack on Shia Muslims in the tribal district of Kurram.
Bajaur has been one of the toughest battlegrounds in Pakistan's fight against a Taliban insurgency in the northwest of the country.
Among the dead were the local chief and deputy of a tribal police force recruited by the government to help defeat the militants. Such forces are frequently targeted by insurgents linked to the Taliban and al Qaeda.
According to an AFP tally, around 5,000 people have been killed in militant attacks across the country since July 2007.
The military conducted major anti-Taliban offensives in Bajaur in August 2008 and February 2009, and has repeatedly declared the district secure.
But militants have still proved able to strike.
COMMENTS (11)
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@dv sikka: It is as much a struggle about religious Ideology as it is a this worldly challenge and Pakistani society cannot stand up to the challenge without forsaking former.
Not much outrage on this cowardly and brutal attack by the fanatic terrorists. However, the drone attacks which target the terrorists irk many rightwing elements. It is their shameless duplicity that is the worst problem in Pakistan. The terrorists can kill our citizens by dozens but if the terrorists are targetted we are outraged. Not much reaction on these deaths.
who claimed responsibility? why is everyone jumping to hasty conclusions here.
The criminals have great trust in the judiciary of Pakistan. They knon that even if arrested they will some be innocent in the eyes of the Law.
It will interesting to see how long this attack and related outrage (if any) remains in public memory. After all, more innocent people died here than in Salala.
TTP should not be complaining about drone attacks.
Cowards attack again, job of Indian terrorists
Rohrabacher is Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of USA. She in a letter to PM of Pakistan has said ""American aid money for Pakistan will dry up. It is clear that the Pakistani military and intelligence services have for years diverted money intended to help the people of Balochistan, and the other provinces of Pakistan, into funding terrorism and buying weapons to repress their own people,"
Someone needs to make sure that Madrassas are not used to recruits teenagers as suicide bombers.
Why major killings of innocent people take place on Fridays. What is Islamic about it. On one hand Friday is a holy day and people offer prayers in the mosque. Does that give them any right to kill innocent people. It is so disgusting. May be I do not understand Islam, can somebody please tell me why it is so.