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UN suspends work after suicide attacks on IDPs camp

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, April 19, IRNA -- The United Nations has suspended relief work at a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) on the outskirts of Kohat town in northwestern Pakistan after two bomb attacks killed at least 42 IDPs, according to officials.

Commissioner of Kohat Khalid Umerzai said both attacks "seemed to be suicide bombings". At least 50 other persons, almost all IDPs, were injured.

The UN has condemned the attack and said it was temporarily suspending relief work in the Hangu and Kohat regions of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

"These were people who had fled their homes. They had suffered displacement; they'd suffered losing their homes. They'd come to the registration point considering it a safe haven. They'd come for help. They'd come for sanctuary. We mourn their loss, and condemn their killing," Martin Mogwanja, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Pakistan, said in a statement.

The camp that was attacked houses some 1,000 people displaced by fighting between the army and Taliban militants. Fresh fighting in the Orakzai and Kurram agencies on the Afghan border is bringing a new wave of IDPs to the camp.

According to a 16 April report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) sourcing the provincial government, there are 270,426 IDPs originating from Orakzai and Kurram agencies.

Kohat is a key destination point for the displaced. Many are living with host families while others have moved into camps, according to aid workers.

The motive behind the bombing is unclear, but Kohat police chief Dilawar Khan Bangash said "it seems the purpose was to target members of the Manikhel and Baramadkhel tribes who had constituted a large percentage of those fleeing recently".

He said the bombers, who had disguised themselves by wearing loose 'burqas', could have been seeking "revenge" as members of those tribes had raised a militia to fight Taliban militants in their areas. According to media reports, militant outfits based in Punjab Province in the east took responsibility for the blasts.

Pakistan has faced a series of militant attacks over the past few years. More than 500 people are estimated to have died as a result of bomb attacks in 2010 alone.

**1424

End News / IRNA / News Code 1063955