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| India-Pakistan |
| Three killed, 22 hurt in Bajaur blast: official |
| 2010-01-22 |
| [Dawn] A roadside bomb apparently targeting anti-Taliban elders killed three people and injured 22 others on Thursday in Pakistan's northwest tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, officials said. The explosion hit their bus in Salarzai district in the tribal region of Bajaur, a day after a similar bomb planted in the road injured a provincial parliamentarian in the northwest capital Peshawar. "It was an improvised explosive device which exploded as the bus headed to the region's main town of Khar," local government official Mazhar Ali said. "One woman was killed while 22 other passengers were wounded." Senior administration official Abdul Kabir later said that "two others succumbed to their injuries in the hospital." Sayed Badshah, a doctor at a local hospital, said two of the wounded were still in a critical condition. The vehicle was carrying some tribal elders who had formed a militia to fight militants in the region. A number of local leaders have been killed in similar attacks in Bajaur in recent months. Also in Bajaur, two Taliban militants were killed when a bomb they were preparing exploded in Savaei village, local official Farooq Khan said. In northwest Swat valley, meanwhile, at least five militants were killed in a gunfight which erupted near the town of Madyan, officials said. "The gunfight started when militants opened fire at a military convoy passing through the area," a local military spokesman told AFP. Senior police official Qazi Ghulam Farooq confirmed the incident and said that the bodies of five militants had been taken to a local police station. |
| Posted by:Fred |