Twin suicide attack kills at least 40 in Pakistan

Bombers attack compound during talks between govt allies

The attack was on the office compound of a senior government official in an area along Pakistan's Afghan border

Peshawar, PAKISTAN (Agencies)
Two suspected suicide bombers killed at least 40 people in an attack at the office compound of a senior government official in an area along Pakistan's Afghan border on Monday, officials said.

"It appears to be a suicide attack. I don't know the exact number of casualties because efforts are being made to remove debris," Amjad Ali Khan, the top government official in the Mohmand region, who appeared to be the target of the attack, told Reuters by telephone.

"There were two bombers. They were on foot. The first blew himself up inside the office of one of my deputies while the second one set off explosives when guards caught him."

Mohmand is one of the lawless tribal regions in Pakistan’s northwest.
Pakistan's army has said its offensives have weakened al-Qaeda-linked Pakistani Taliban militants seeking to destabilize the U.S.-backed government. But analysts say they often melt away during assaults.

More than 100 people were believed to have been in the compound where government officials, allied tribal elders and members of local anti-Taliban militia were holding talks, leading to fears that the death toll could rise.

"There was a meeting underway between the local administration chief and tribal elders, members of the peace committee (anti-Taliban militia) when the blast took place," another local official, Maqsood
Amin, told AFP.

It was the second suicide attack in five months targeting Mohmand tribal elders allied to the government. On July 9, a suicide car bomb attack killed 105 people in the region's town of Yakaghund.

Around 4,000 people have been killed in suicide and bomb attacks across Pakistan since government forces raided an extremist mosque in Islamabad in 2007. The attacks have been blamed on Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked networks.

Pakistani security forces have been bogged down, fighting for years against homegrown Taliban in the tribal belt, which is semi-autonomous, and parts of the northwest that come under direct government control.

In order to assist a traditional standing army that lacks adequate equipment and counter-insurgency specialists, one of Pakistan's answers has been to arm and support tribesmen to form anti-Taliban militias in local communities.

http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/12/06/128653.html