PAKISTAN: Suicide bomber kills regional head of anti-Taliban militia and five others in north-western town of Buner

Record ID: 353720

  • Title: PAKISTAN: Suicide bomber kills regional head of anti-Taliban militia and five others in north-western town of Buner
  • Date: 3rd November 2012
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) CHIEF OF DISTRICT HEADQUARTERS HOSPITAL IN BUNER, DR. ASRARULLAH KHAN, SAYING: "The dead bodies have been handed over to relatives. The bodies of policemen were given to the police. There were two policemen (killed) and three others." POLICE STANDING NEXT TO DESTROYED CAR (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) CHIEF OF DISTRICT HEADQUARTERS HOSPITAL IN BUNER, DR. ASRARULL
  • Embargoed: 18th November 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: Crime,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA5T6LL4OIT5VWYOK3T3ZOIHKP5
  • Story Text: Six people were killed when a Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up near a vehicle carrying the regional head of a government-allied militia in north-west Pakistan on Saturday (November 3), officials have said.
    Fateh Khan, a former leader of the secular Awami National Party and anti-Taliban militia leader was killed along with three guards and two passers-by while leaving a gas station.
    Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack targeting Khan, according to local media.
    Police cordoned off the site of the blast and said the dead and injured had been transferred to hospital.
    The attack in the district of Buner, in the north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province also injured six others, with one in critical condition according to medics.
    "The dead bodies have been handed over to relatives. The bodies of policemen were given to the police. There were two policemen (killed) and three others," said Dr. Asrarullah Khan, chief of the District Headquarters hospital in Dagar are in Buner.
    "One of those injured was in critical condition. We have referred them to Peshawar hospital after giving them a blood transfusion. Two others injured are admitted here in this hospital ward. The rest of the injured have been sent home after dressing and other treatment," he added.
    Pakistani authorities have been encouraging Pashtun tribesmen on the Afghan border to revive traditional militias to counter the rising Islamist militancy. Under a centuries-old tradition, ethnic Pashtun tribes raise lashkars in their semi-autonomous regions to fight criminal gangs and enforce their tribal codes.
    The Taliban have hit back by assassinating tribal elders and militiamen and carrying out suicide bombings.
    Last month Taliban militants shot and wounded 14-year-old education activist Malala Yousufzai in Swat Valley located near Buner.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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