A suicide bomber triggered his explosive charge in a funeral attended by anti-Taliban militants in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least 36 mourners and wounded more than a hundred, said police and hospital officials. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. The explosion took place in the city of Peshawar, not far from the tribal regions along the border with Afghanistan, considered a stronghold of Taliban militants and al Qaida.
The area is inhabited by several tribal armies fighting the Taliban and receive government assistance to do so. Like elsewhere in the northwest, militants have been mercilessly attacked by insurgents. The police chief Zahid Khan said 300 people attended the funeral of the wife of a militiaman in the area of Matani when the explosion occurred.
Television footage showed men collecting shoes and hats covered in blood in a dusty place open where mourners had gathered. Witnesses said the attacker appeared to be a teenager, he appeared at the funeral just as he was about to begin. "We think this young man came to attend the funeral, but then detonated a bomb," said one survivor Syed Alam Khan.
Taliban spokesman Asan Asanula said insurgents attacked the militia because it was an ally of the Pakistani government and indeed the United States. "We will further attacks similar if not stop their activities," he said in a telephone from an undisclosed location. The militant commander Dilawar Khan said he would consult with the fighters and local elders to decide if they continued fighting the Taliban, insisting that the government gave them the resources they needed.
Jamal Shah, a doctor at the main hospital of Peshawar, said he had received 36 bodies and over 100 injured in the explosion. Taliban militants and al Qaeda are fighting a bloody war against the Pakistani state from its bases in the Northwest. The army has launched several offensives against insurgents, but has also encouraged the formation of private armies to assist in the fight.
While the grant of authority to armed civilians has alarmed human rights groups, the state has praised the role of militants in fighting insurgents or retain control of lands that have been recovered by them. Peshawar police said last year that the army of Matani are essential to stop insurgent infiltration into the city.
On Tuesday, at least 20 people were killed and over 10 wounded when a car bomb exploded in the province of Punjab. 
The area is inhabited by several tribal armies fighting the Taliban and receive government assistance to do so. Like elsewhere in the northwest, militants have been mercilessly attacked by insurgents. The police chief Zahid Khan said 300 people attended the funeral of the wife of a militiaman in the area of Matani when the explosion occurred.
Television footage showed men collecting shoes and hats covered in blood in a dusty place open where mourners had gathered. Witnesses said the attacker appeared to be a teenager, he appeared at the funeral just as he was about to begin. "We think this young man came to attend the funeral, but then detonated a bomb," said one survivor Syed Alam Khan.
Taliban spokesman Asan Asanula said insurgents attacked the militia because it was an ally of the Pakistani government and indeed the United States. "We will further attacks similar if not stop their activities," he said in a telephone from an undisclosed location. The militant commander Dilawar Khan said he would consult with the fighters and local elders to decide if they continued fighting the Taliban, insisting that the government gave them the resources they needed.
Jamal Shah, a doctor at the main hospital of Peshawar, said he had received 36 bodies and over 100 injured in the explosion. Taliban militants and al Qaeda are fighting a bloody war against the Pakistani state from its bases in the Northwest. The army has launched several offensives against insurgents, but has also encouraged the formation of private armies to assist in the fight.
While the grant of authority to armed civilians has alarmed human rights groups, the state has praised the role of militants in fighting insurgents or retain control of lands that have been recovered by them. Peshawar police said last year that the army of Matani are essential to stop insurgent infiltration into the city.
On Tuesday, at least 20 people were killed and over 10 wounded when a car bomb exploded in the province of Punjab.
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