File Photo
Seven others wounded after bomber targets peace committee meeting in Pir Mela village.
A suicide bomber detonated himself at a peace committee meeting in Khyber Agency on Wednesday, killing at least five people and wounding seven others, officials said.
The bombing took place in the Pir Mela village of Khyber tribal district. “At least five tribesmen were killed and seven others were wounded after a suicide bomber blew himself up in an Aman [peace] committee meeting,” said a local government official. Local security officials also confirmed the bombing and casualties.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the governor of Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa province, Mehtab Ahmed Khan, said that the top provincial official had condemned the suicide bombing and ordered health authorities to provide the best care for the wounded.
Nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but Taliban and Islamist group Lashkar-e-Islam have taken refuge in Khyber.
Pakistan has been battling Islamist groups in its semi-autonomous tribal belt since 2004 after its Army entered the region to search for Al Qaeda fighters who had fled across the border following the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan.