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Suicide blast kills 20 in Pakistan's tribal region

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, May 4, IRNA -- At least 20 people, including seven Levies personnel, were killed while 66 others were injured in a suicide blast in Pakistan’s Bajaur tribal region on Friday, local media reported.

The blast took place at busy marketplace in Khar, a main town in Bajaur. A curfew was imposed in the area for an indefinite period after the attack.

All shops were closed after the imposition of the curfew except for pharmacies, which remained open in case of an emergency.

A senior official from the area, Hasib Khan, told media that a suicide bomber –reportedly a teenager – detonated himself near a Levies check post in the middle of the main square in Khar Bazaar. “Seven Leives personnel died in the attack,” he said.

A senior official of the political administration, Fida Muhammad, was also killed in the attack.

Some of the injured who were shifted to Agency Headquarter Hospital Khar said that the bomber was a young boy who attacked Levies personnel seated outside a shop, owned by Haji Ramzan.

Officials at the Agency Headquarter Hospital said that the condition of many injured was critical and that some of them might be shifted to Peshawar and other nearby districts. An emergency has been declared at the hospital.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack. The authorities blame Taliban militants for such attacks.

The militants regularly target the security forces and pro-government tribal elders.

It is the second blast in Bajaur region in two days.

A remote control bomb blast on Thursday killed three security personnel and one civilian in Chamarkand area of Bajaur tribal region.

Pakistani forces launched major offensive in Bajaur in 2008-9 and cleared most of the areas from the militants.

Pakistan army says that several militant leaders from Bajaur have fled to Afghanistan and are operating from there.

**1420
Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 80112378