Pakistan

Up to 50 killed in mosque bombing in Pakistan's Khyber agency

Article published on the 2009-03-27 Latest update 2009-03-27 16:56 TU

Pakistani tribesmen recover a body from the debris at the site of suicide blast near Jamrud in the Khyber agency
(Photo: Reuters)

Up to 50 people have been killed and over 100 injured in a suicide-bombing of a mosque in the Khyber tribal region of Pakistan. Local people are dragging the dead and injured from the rubble of the building. Only two minarets were left standing.

"More than 70 people were wounded, there may be many more dead," top local official Tariq Hayat told the AFP news agency.

The bombing took place in the town of Jamrud in the Khyber region, one of Pakistan's self-adminstering tribal regions. The temporary mosque had been set up by local police and paramilitary troops who have a camp in the surrounding area and was packed for Friday prayers.

"People were in the mosque at prayer time and a young boy came and shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’," reports correspondent Behroz Khan, who has spoken to eyewitnesses and officials. "Even then he was sitting among the people, then he blew himself up."

Prime suspects for the attacks planners would be Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), led by Baitullah Mehsud, says Khan.

"So far no group has claimed responsibility but mainly suicide bombers belong to TTP, which has been banned by Pakistan," he told RFI.

Mehsud has been accused of planning the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Security officials suspect that the attack is a response to ongoing security operations against Taliban fighters and other Islamist militants in Khyber's Barra area to secure Nato supplies into Afghanistan.

Nato's main supply lines into Afghanistan pass through the area. The tribal regions are notorious for their lawlessness and Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters operate there.

US President Barack Obama is to announce a new strategy for the US's war with Al-Qaeda and the Taliban on Friday and a conference in the Hague, the Netherlands, next week will bring debate its effect on the international presence there.

The blast is the most deadly since the attack on the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad claimed 60 lives.