UN suspends food distribution in Bajaur

WFP spokeswoman says food distribution suspended temporarily, top priority security of beneficiaries and staff.

ISLAMABAD: The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said Monday it had suspended food distribution in Bajaur where a woman suicide bomber killed more than 40 people.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack in Bajaur, in what was the country’s first known suicide attack carried out by a woman.

"WFP has temporarily suspended food distribution in Bajaur following the attack at a police checkpoint several hundred metres away from WFP's food distribution point," spokeswoman Jackie Dent told AFP.

"We are talking with the district authorities and hoping to resume the distribution as soon as possible."

"Our top priority is the safety and well-being of our beneficiaries and staff, and we are committed to continue assisting the people of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas as they work to rebuild their lives," Dent said.

WFP provides general food rations to approximately 294,000 internally displaced families in Bajaur.

So far this year, WFP has provided assistance to an estimated 2.6 million IDPs, returnees and local people in the northwest.

Zakir Hussain Afridi, the top administration official in Bajaur, said that hair, along with parts of hands and feet "leaves no doubt that the bomber was a woman".

Around 4,000 people have died in suicide and bomb attacks across.