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14 killed in Pakistan bombing
22/02/2008 20:08 - (SA)
Peshawar - A roadside bomb ripped through cars carrying wedding guests in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing at least 14 people including the bride and wounding a dozen others, police said.
Children and women were also among the dead from the blast in the insurgency-hit Swat Valley, the first bomb attack in Pakistan since the country held largely peaceful parliamentary elections on Monday.
"There was a remote-controlled bomb explosion which targeted a wedding party. Two cars were destroyed including the car in which the bride was travelling. She died," local police officer Haroon Khan told AFP.
He said a total of 14 people were killed and more than a dozen wounded.
Several children, four women and the bride's father were also among the dead, he said, while five children were among the wounded.
"Almost everyone in the family had injuries. Many had shrapnel in the head and face," said Javed Khan, a doctor at the hospital in Saidu Sharif, the main town in the Swat Valley.
Interior ministry spokesperson Brigadier Javed Cheema confirmed that the bomb near the town of Matta targeted the wedding party. He earlier said that eight people were killed.
The Swat Valley was a famed tourist spot until the middle of last year when it became a flashpoint for violence between the military and followers of a hardline pro-Taliban cleric who tried to establish Islamic sharia law.
The military launched an offensive in the Swat valley in November against the cleric, Maulana Fazlullah, killing and arresting hundreds of militants but failing to capture Fazlullah.
But militant activity has continued in the area.
A suicide car bombing outside an army media centre in Swat killed two civilians and wounded eight other people on Saturday, while a roadside bomb targeting an election candidate on February 13 killed two people.
Pakistan has been hit by a string of suicide attacks and other bomb blasts in recent months, the most notable of which killed opposition leader Benazir Bhutto at a political rally in December.
Bhutto's assassination and most of the other attacks have been blamed on followers of a militant commander with links to al-Qaeda who is based in Pakistan's troubled tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.
About 160 people have died in attacks this year, along with scores of militants killed in army operations in northwestern Pakistan and in the troubled tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
Last year was Pakistan's deadliest ever in terms of militant violence, with more than 800 people killed in bombings and suicide attacks.
- AFP
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