Female suicide bomber kills 44 in Pakistan (Fifth Lead)

Islamabad, Dec 25 (IANS/DPA) A female suicide bomber wearing a burqa exploded herself in a crowd receiving food at a UN distribution centre in Pakistan’s tribal region Saturday killing 44 people, officials said.

Seventy others were injured in the devastating attack at Khar, the main town in Bajaur tribal district where government forces have been fighting the Taliban and Al Qaeda militants.

Local government official Imtiaz Khan said about 300 people were gathered to receive food when the bomber struck. “According to initial reports, the bomber was a woman wearing a burqa.”

“Forty-three people have been confirmed dead while more than 70 people are injured. Seven to eight people are in critical condition,” Afif Khan, a medical officer at emergency department in Khar’s main hospital, said over the phone.

A witness, Wasi Ullah, said a burqa-clad female aged 22 or 23 years first hurled hand grenades when stopped by security guards at the gate, where she detonated her explosives.

“Her body parts including hands and feet were seen lying near the gate,” he said.

Another account said the suicide bomber broke the security cordon and blew herself up.

The security officials probably failed to check the woman because of high religious sensitivities in the area, a local source said.

Around 50 seriously injured were airlifted to Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, capital of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Samaa TV said.

The outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban claimed responsibility for the horrific attack. It was only the third known suicide attack in Pakistan by a woman.

Thousands of families displaced by fighting between the military and Taliban fighters rely heavily on food provided by the government and the UN World Food Programme.

Bajaur, one of the insurgents’ key launching pads for cross-border raids in Afghanistan, was the scene of a 2006 drone attack at a religious school in Damadola that killed over 80 people.

Officials said Ayman al-Zawahiri, one of top Al Qaeda leaders, was the main target of that strike but he had left the place shortly before the attack.

The military announced last year that the area had been cleared of militants but it is believed that the insurgents are hiding in the mountainous border regions and target the army and people in Bajaur and neighbouring Mohmand district.

The bombing came a day after 150 Taliban fighters carried out coordinated attacks on five security posts in Mohmand in which 11 soldiers and 24 militants died, officials said.

In retaliation, military helicopters pounded insurgent positions Saturday and killed at least 40 suspected militants.

“So far 40 militants have been killed by our forces,” said Amjad Ali, the senior civilian administrator of the district. “The operation is still going on.”

The army said it had killed 64 insurgents in the last two days.