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Suicide bomber kills 40 in Pak tribal area
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ASIANAGE on 10 October, 2008 02:49:04
 
By Shafqat Ali
with agency inputs
ISLAMABAD
Oct. 10: At least 40 people were killed and over 100 others injured when a
suicide attacker blew himself during a jirga (tribal assembly) meeting in
Orakzai Agency on Friday.
The jirga was underway in the Orakzai Agency area of Hadezai to hammer out
strategy to cope up with the problems of militants, when the suicide attacker
blew himself.
Local tribes, including 500 people, from Alizai tribe were in the jirga
planning a strategy to flush out the militants from the area.
The explosion happened a day after a force of pro-government tribesmen
destroy-ed two militant hideouts in the Orakzai district, one of Pakistan’s
seven semi-autonomous tribal regions, they said. "Initial reports from the area
say that a bomber struck during a jirga meeting, killing at least 40 people and
wounding dozens more," said a security official on condition of anonymity.
"The tribesmen blew up two hideouts of the militants a day earlier and it is
possible this attack was in revenge for their actions," the official said.
The attack also came a day after Taliban militants abducted and beheaded four
tribal elders in the insurgency-hit Bajaur region who had attended another
pro-government meeting, officials said. Pakistan’s government has tried to
enlist fiercely independent ethnic Pashtun tribesmen to back its military
operations against Taliban and Al Qaeda extremists based near the Afghan
frontier. Taliban militants have killed dozens of tribal elders they accuse of
backing the government in recent years using roadside bombs, executions and,
less frequently, suicide bombings. Pakistan’s Parliament, meanwhile, is
discussing the rise of terrorism and Pakistan’s role in the US-led war on
terror.
On Thursday, a suicide bomber attacked police headquarters in Islamabad
wounding eight police officials.