EnglishLady
Veteran Expediter
Sky News Dec 25
A female suicide bomber has killed least 41 people and injured dozens others in northwest Pakistan
Wearing a head-to-toe burqa, the attacker detonated explosives at a security check post, some 500 metres away from a food aid centre in Khar, the main town of the district of Bajaur.
Dozens of people were waiting for food stamps at the World Food Programme distribution point when the bomber struck.
Witnesses said the attacker first threw hand grenades before setting off her bomb vest.
One witness, Hussain Ahmed, said: "First there were two small explosions and people started running for cover. But within seconds there was a major blast and there were dead bodies scattered everywhere.
"It was very terrifying."
Tribal administration official Sohail Khan said: "At least 41 people are dead and more than 60 wounded in suicide bombing."
Doctor Mohammad Hafeez, head of the local state-run hospital, confirmed the death toll and said there were several women and children among the casualties.
Tribal police officials said the attacker was a woman, who resisted being searched before triggering her explosives.
Bajaur was once a stronghold of Taliban militants who have carried out several bombing and suicide attacks.
Pakistan's military first launched operations in Bajaur in August 2008 and have repeatedly claimed to have eliminated the Islamist militant threat.
The country's northwest tribal belt is a stronghold of homegrown Islamist militant groups and extremists who fled Afghanistan after the US-led invasion toppled the hardline Taliban regime in 2001.
Around 4,000 people have died in suicide and bomb attacks across Pakistan since government forces raided an extremist mosque in Islamabad in 2007.
The attacks have been blamed on networks linked to the Taliban and al Qaeda.
Bajaur is one of seven Pakistani tribal districts
A female suicide bomber has killed least 41 people and injured dozens others in northwest Pakistan
Wearing a head-to-toe burqa, the attacker detonated explosives at a security check post, some 500 metres away from a food aid centre in Khar, the main town of the district of Bajaur.
Dozens of people were waiting for food stamps at the World Food Programme distribution point when the bomber struck.
Witnesses said the attacker first threw hand grenades before setting off her bomb vest.
One witness, Hussain Ahmed, said: "First there were two small explosions and people started running for cover. But within seconds there was a major blast and there were dead bodies scattered everywhere.
"It was very terrifying."
Tribal administration official Sohail Khan said: "At least 41 people are dead and more than 60 wounded in suicide bombing."
Doctor Mohammad Hafeez, head of the local state-run hospital, confirmed the death toll and said there were several women and children among the casualties.
Tribal police officials said the attacker was a woman, who resisted being searched before triggering her explosives.
Bajaur was once a stronghold of Taliban militants who have carried out several bombing and suicide attacks.
Pakistan's military first launched operations in Bajaur in August 2008 and have repeatedly claimed to have eliminated the Islamist militant threat.
The country's northwest tribal belt is a stronghold of homegrown Islamist militant groups and extremists who fled Afghanistan after the US-led invasion toppled the hardline Taliban regime in 2001.
Around 4,000 people have died in suicide and bomb attacks across Pakistan since government forces raided an extremist mosque in Islamabad in 2007.
The attacks have been blamed on networks linked to the Taliban and al Qaeda.
Bajaur is one of seven Pakistani tribal districts