Suicide bomb's death toll tops 100

THE death toll from a suicide attack in a volatile border region of Pakistan rose to more than 100 yesterday, demonstrating militants' continued ability to stage deadly strikes despite losing ground in army offensives.

The Tehrik-e-Taleban Pakistan (TTP), or Taleban Movement of Pakistan, claimed responsibility for Friday's attack in Mohmand on the north-western border with Afghanistan, where security forces have stepped up operations against militants in recent months.

It is the deadliest incident that Pakistan has suffered since an attack on a market in Peshawar in October last year that killed 105.

Five children, aged five to ten, and several women were among the 102 dead, and the toll rose yesterday as rescuers working throughout the night discovered more bodies in the rubble.

"We have recovered more bodies from the debris of dozens of shops that were razed to the ground by the blast and the number of dead has increased," said Rasool Khan, assistant political agent of Mohmad. The bomber blew himself up outside Khan's office. There were conflicting reports that a car bomb was the source of a possible second blast.

Late on Friday, a TTP spokesman in Mohmand, who identified himself as Ikramullah Mohmand, said anti-Taleban tribal elders from various peace committees who had come to Khan's office were the target.

A senior elder and two others were killed in the attack. Among nearly 80 wounded were several people displaced by fighting between security forces and militants, who were collecting relief goods near the blast side.

The latest militant attack underscored multiple security challenges facing nuclear-armed US ally Pakistan, whose support is vital in attempts to stabilise Afghanistan, where Nato troops are fighting a raging Taleban insurgency. The military has made progress over the past year, when militants were pushed out of the Swat valley, north-west of Islamabad.

However, two suicide bombers killed at least 42 people in an attack on Pakistan's most important Sufi shrine in the eastern city of Lahore last week.

While praising Pakistan's efforts to fight homegrown militants, the unabated violence is a source of worry for the US, which also wants Islamabad to go after Afghan militants who cross the border to attack US and British troops in the frontier provinces of Afghanistan.