A teenage suicide bomber has killed up to 31 Pakistani army recruits at a parade ground, an attack the Taliban said was revenge for US drone strikes and local military offensives.
A teenage suicide bomber has killed up to 31 Pakistani army recruits at a parade ground, an attack the Taliban said was revenge for US drone strikes and local military offensives.
Wearing a school uniform, the young teenager blew himself up yesterday at the parade inside a heavily guarded military compound just outside the town of Mardan, killing the soldiers with shrapnel and explosives, officials said.
Pakistani police examine the site of a bomb blast about 65 kilometres north of Lahore yesterday
It is the deadliest suicide bombing in Pakistan since a woman with a bomb strapped under her burqa killed
43 people at a UN food distribution point on Christmas Day in the tribal district of Bajaur.
The Taliban claimed responsibility and threatened "bigger attacks" in coming days to avenge American drone strikes and Pakistani military operations targeting Islamist militants in the north-western tribal belt.
"It was a suicide attack. The teenager bomber was on foot and was wearing a school uniform," said Abdullah Khan, a senior police officer in Mardan, about 30km from the regional capital, Peshawar.
"The death toll has now reached 31 recruits. Thirty-six have been injured, 16 of them are critical," added Khan.
"The bomber was about 14 or 15-years-old.
He was not a student at the school inside the regiment. He came from outside but was dressed like the other schoolboys."
After the attack, soldiers in bulletproof jackets and helmets cordoned off the entire area around the Punjab Regiment Centre, deploying jeeps mounted with machine guns and preventing access to the site.
"We proudly claim this suicide attack," said Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq by telephone from an undisclosed location.
"We will continue such attacks on those people who are providing security to the Americans. These attacks are to avenge the drone attacks and military operations in the tribal areas."
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani condemned the attack at the Punjab Regiment Center.
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