A lot killed in Pakistan attack

A suicide bomb attack in north-west Pakistan has left no less than 40 men and women lifeless, local officials have said. 6articles comuf

The attack happened at a government compound within the Mohmand Company as officials met anti-Taliban allies.

Dozens of people have also been hurt within the attack, local media say.

The place borders Afghanistan and is really a stronghold from the Taliban and al-Qaeda. The military has launched offensives there but rebel attacks continue regularly.

A Taliban spokesman said the group was behind the latest attack.

It was carried out by two suicide bombers disguised in police uniforms and targeted a local administration compound in Ghalanai, the main city in Mohmand, about 175km (110 miles) north-west from the funds Islamabad.

Greater than one hundred men and women were said to be within the compound, wherever talks were taking place between government officials, tribal elders and local anti-Taliban groups.

One official, Mohammad Khalid Khan, informed Connected Press that tribal elders and police officials were among the lifeless.

At least two journalists were also killed.

1 eyewitness, Qalandar Khan, informed AP: "There was a deafening sound and it prompted a cloud of dust and smoke. There have been dozens around the floor like me, bleeding and crying. I saw body elements scattered within the compound."
Bullets

About 25 seriously injured men and women happen to be used to Peshawar for hospital treatment.

One of many possible targets from the attack, Mohmand's leading political official, Amjad Ali Khan, was not hurt.

A local administration official informed the BBC a man on a motorbike had driven as much as a sitting place on the assembly and detonated his explosives. Seconds later one more bomber, also on a motorbike, exploded his machine on the gate from the compound.

Amjad Ali Khan said the bombers had also packed their suicide vests with bullets, which had elevated the death toll.

Hundreds of people happen to be killed in al-Qaeda and Taliban attacks throughout Pakistan given that government forces raided an extremist mosque in Islamabad in 2007.

In July, a double suicide bombing within the village of Yakaghund in Mohmand, which also targeted tribal elders, killed more than one hundred men and women.

The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan in Pakistan says the army has carried out restricted operations in Mohmand but has centered much more thoroughly around the neighbouring Bajaur tribal region.

He says the Taliban in Mohmand are led by Umar Khalid, a bit regarded but effective commander whose fighters are much more active in Afghanistan than Pakistan.

Umar Khalid is said to offer sanctuary to leading al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders as they flee operations by the army. These are said to include Hakimullah Mehsud and Ayman al-Zawahiri, our correspondent says.

Pakistan's military says its offensives have disrupted militants within the north-west but analysts say the insurgents often escape.