Khar: A roadside bomb struck a vehicle carrying a group of anti-Taliban tribal elders in Pakistan`s volatile northwest Sunday, killing two and critically wounding four others in the latest attack targeting local residents opposed to the militants.
The blast came two days after a suicide car bomber attacked a sports event near a meeting of tribesmen who supervise an anti-Taliban militia near Pakistan`s South Waziristan tribal area, killing almost 100 people.
The group of six elders attacked on Sunday were working to set up a similar militia in the Bajur tribal area, a militant stronghold near the Afghan border, said local official Naseeb Shah. Two were killed and the others were critically wounded, he said.
The men were on their way to meet with local officials in the main town of Khar when the remote-controlled device detonated, Shah said. The blast occurred near Kassai, about 17 miles (28 kilometres) northeast of Khar, he said.
The Pakistani military carried out an anti-Taliban offensive in Bajur in 2008 and 2009 that it declared a success. But the militants have maintained their presence, and violence has flared in the region since then.
The bullet-riddled bodies of a man and a woman were found in the Mamund area of Bajur on Sunday with a note saying they were guilty of violating Islamic law, local official Faromosh Khan said.
Bureau Report
