Pakistan elders targeted in suicide attack

At least five killed and another 10 injured in anti-Taliban gathering in Khyber tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

Map of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan, with Peshawar shown

At least five people have been killed and 10 injured in a suicide bomb attack on a meeting of anti-Taliban tribal elders in a region bordering Afghanistan, security officials say.

The attacker blew himself up at meeting on Wednesday in Pir Mela village, 100km southwest of Peshawar, in the Tirah Valley of the Khyber tribal region, officials told the AP and AFP news agencies.

A local official referred to the gathering as a “peace meeting”.

The AFP that the wounded were taken to a government hospital. The Pakistani newspaper Dawn said the victims were yet to be identified.

No one immediately claimed the attack. The Pakistani Taliban has been blamed for previous attacks against elders in Khyber and elsewhere in the northwestern tribal regions.

Pakistan’s army in recent years has destroyed dozens of bases in Khyber belonging to armed groups.

Source: News Agencies