Wars
“And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.”
Matthew 24:6
Perilous Times
Suicide bombers kill 41 at Pakistan refugee camp*
From: AFP
April 18, 2010 12:22AM
TWO suicide bombers dressed in burqas have struck a crowd of displaced people collecting aid handouts at a camp in northwest Pakistan, killing at least 41 and wounding more than 60.
The bombers struck minutes apart yesterday in the Kacha Pukha camp on the outskirts of the garrison city of Kohat, a registration centre for people fleeing Taliban violence and Pakistani army operations close to the Afghan border.
The attacks underscored the grave threat posed by extremists despite stepped-up Pakistani offensives and a significant increase in US drone attacks targeting Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked commanders in the nearby tribal belt.
"We have 41 dead in the twin suicide bombing. There are 64 injured," local police chief Dilawar Khan Bangash told AFP by telephone.
He said the bombers walked into the crowd wearing burqas, the loose-fitting head-to-toe outfit that obscures the face, worn by conservative Muslim women in parts of northwest Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Body parts of the bombers were recovered and most of the victims were members of the Mani Khel and Baramad Khel tribes who had gathered for registration after fleeing fighting in their home district of Orakzai, he said.
Mr Bangash said the first bomber detonated his explosives while displaced people gathered to register and receive relief items. A few minutes later the second bomber blew himself up in the middle of the gathering crowd.
Akhtar Jan, 35, a taxi driver, said he heard a huge blast soon after dropping passengers at the camp. "I rushed to the blast site and put a wounded man into my cab. And when I went to bring another blast victim I heard another blast," he told AFP by telephone from his hospital bed.
"I fell unconscious and don't know how I was brought here," said Jan, who received injuries to his head and abdomen.
Northwest Pakistan has suffered a major internal displacement of people as a result of Taliban violence and a series of military offensives concentrated on flushing out the armed Islamists from parts of the northwest and tribal belt.
The United Nations says 1.3 million people are currently displaced.