KHAR, Pakistan: A suicide bomber targeting a pro-government tribe on Saturday killed at least eight people and wounded 11 others at a market in a restive Pakistani tribal area, officials said. The attacker blew himself up at Pasht bazaar in the northwestern Salarzai region, some 35 km from Khar, the main town of the restive Bajaur tribal district, which borders Afghanistan. Earlier the officials had said a timed bomb exploded. “Initially it looked like a bomb blast, but later investigators found out that it was a suicide bombing and the body of the attacker was also found,” local government official Saad Mohammad said. “Eight people were killed and 11 others were wounded in the attack,” he added. “Two tribal elders, Malik Tehsil Khan and Malik Mayn Jan also died in the bomb blast,” local government official Irshad Khan said. “We think that they were the main targets because they were the senior members of a local peace committee which has formed a lashkar (tribal force) against the Taliban,” he added. Taliban, who have targeted members of the pro-government Salarzai tribe in the past because they raised a village force to drive them out of region, claimed responsibility for the suicide attack. “We carried out the bombing against the peace committee because they had joined the government and were maligning the Taliban,” Tehreek-e-Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said. “We had warned them before and warn them again that they should disband this anti-Taliban peace committee otherwise we will continue to attack them till they are totally eliminated,” Ehsan said. – Agence France
