Here we have your standard Muslim suicide mission
A burka clad person and suicide bomber all rolled into one,
OVER 80 people were killed in a suicide bombing on a World Food Program project and military attacks against militant camps in Pakistan.
A suicide bomber wearing a burka, who some officials said was a woman, killed at least 43 people at a World Food Program distribution point in a tribal area bordering Afghanistan.
The blast occurred on Saturday in Khar, the main town of lawless Bajaur tribal district, once a stronghold of Taliban militants who have carried out several bombings and suicide attacks in the area.
Most of the victims belonged to the Salarzai tribe, which supported military action against the militants and formed a militia to force them from Bajaur.
"At least 43 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in the suicide bombing," senior tribal administration official Zakir Hussain said.
Separately, 40 militants were killed in Mohmand, a lawless tribal district, in a series of helicopter raids, officials said.
US President Barack Obama condemned the Khar bombing as an "outrageous terrorist attack" and said the US stood with the people of Pakistan.
"Killing innocent civilians outside a World Food Program distribution point is an affront to the people of Pakistan, and to all humanity," he said.
There were conflicting reports about the identity of the bomber in Khar, with some officials saying the attacker was a woman, while others claimed a man disguised in a burka was responsible for the blast.
Salarzai tribespeople had set up a vigilante force to evict militants from their area, but officials declined to comment when asked if they were the bomber's intended target.
A spokesman for Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the bombing. "We carried out the suicide attack in Khar because these people had made a lashkar (tribal vigilante force) against us," he said.
Security officials said they had been warned that two suicide bombers had entered Bajaur and would carry out attacks on December 22, but had changed their plans.
In Mohmand, another tribal area, at least 40 militants were killed when helicopter gunships pounded their hideouts.
"Since yesterday, Pakistani security forces helped by helicopter gunships carried out raids on suspected militant hideouts and killed 40 militants," said Mohmand's top administration official Amjad Ali Khan.
Security forces had launched an operation in Baizai and Lakro villages following co-ordinated attacks on five checkposts on Friday in which 11 paramilitary soldiers and 24 militants were killed, he said.
Pakistan's military first conducted operations in Bajaur in August 2008 and have repeatedly claimed to have eliminated the Islamist militant threat.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/die-in-pakistan-bombing-and-raids/sto...
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