The death toll from a suicide attack in a volatile border region of Pakistan climbed to 102 today.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Taliban Movement of Pakistan, claimed responsibility for yesterday's attack in Mohmand, a Pashtun region on the northwestern border with Afghanistan, where security forces have stepped up operations against militants in recent months.
The attack is the deadliest Pakistan has suffered since an assault on a market in Peshawar in October last year that killed 105. Five children, aged 5 to 10, and several women were among the dead, and the toll rose today as rescuers working throughout the night found 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" to 102, said Rasool Khan, assistant political agent of Mohmand.
The bomber blew himself up outside Khan's office. There were mixed reports that a car bomb was the source of a possible second explosion.
Late yesterday, a TTP spokesman in Mohmand said anti-Taliban 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 attack site.
The latest militant attack underscored multiple security challenges facing nuclear-armed US ally Pakistan, whose support is vital in attempts to stabilise neighbouring Afghanistan, where US-led Nato troops are fighting a raging Taliban insurgency.
Reuters