A man consoles a boy at the site of a suicide bomb blast in a Pakistani tribal region. — Photo by Reuters/File
KHAR: A suicide attack targeting police killed at least 16 people, including five policemen, in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region of Bajaur on Friday, officials said.
The target of the attack was tribal police in Khar, the main town of Bajaur, officials told AFP.
“The death toll has risen to 16. Five of them were tribal policemen,” Abdul Haseeb, an administration official in Khar, told AFP.
Tariq Khan, a senior government official in Khar, said the bomber was on foot and detonated his explosive vest when he reached a police checkpost.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The attack came two days after Pakistan went on a high state of alert for the first anniversary of Osama bin Laden’s killing by American troops, fearing a wave of revenge attacks.
Tribal police, who are recruited to help the government fight Taliban militants in the tribal belt, are frequently attacked.
Two bomb attacks killed at least five people — pro-government tribal elders and security personnel — in same tribal region on Thursday.
Bajaur has been one of the hardest-hit zones in Pakistan’s battle to contain a local Taliban insurgency in the northwest.
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.
