Asia-Pacific

Motorcycle bomber kills at least 48 in Pakistan

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-07-09 16:47

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – A government official says a suicide bomber on a motorcycle has killed at least 40 people in a tribal region where Pakistan's army has fought the Taliban. Dozens more were wounded.

Pakistan's army soldier takes position on a hilltop post Khajore Kut, an area of Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal region along Afghan border, Thursday, July 8, 2010. [Agencies]?

Assistant political agent Rasool Khan says dozens of shops were damaged or destroyed in the explosion Friday in Yakaghund village in Mohmand tribal area. His office was the apparent target.

Some 28 ordinary criminals held in a nearby prison are believed to have escaped after the blast hit that facility as well.

The attack indicated that militants remain a potent force in Pakistan's tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, despite army offensives.