PESHAWAR, Pakistan, June 16, (Agencies): A bomb planted in a pickup truck killed at least 33 people at a market in northwest Pakistan on Saturday and wounded 65, security and hospitals officials said, in one of the largest bombing death tolls in weeks.
The target in the town of Landi Kotal appeared to be a tribal leader allied with the government against the Pakistani Taleban, the Islamist militant group blamed for many of the suicide bombings across the country, security officials said.
Hospital officials said 65 people were wounded, most of them fruit and vegetable vendors.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
One security official said a suicide bomber connected with the attack began wandering around the town near the border with Afghanistan shortly after the explosion.
“The blast was so powerful, it was heard far and wide and caused damage to nearby buildings,” said resident Sher Mohammad Shinwari
The Pakistani Taleban are seeking to topple the US-backed government. Suicide attacks have eased in recent months but there are no signs Pakistan’s military has broken the back of the group.
Six shops were gutted and several damaged in the blast, which also destroyed at least eight vehicles, he added.
In the last five years, attacks blamed on Islamist bombers have killed more than 5,000 people in Pakistan according to an AFP tally.
US officials consider the country’s semi-autonomous tribal belt a safe haven for al-Qaeda and insurgents fighting both in Pakistan and across the border in Afghanistan.
Last week a bomb ripped through a passenger bus, killing 19 people, including seven women and a child, on the outskirts of Peshawar.
It was the deadliest attack in months on Peshawar, which has long been a flashpoint for the insurgency.
Pakistan’s relations with the United States are in disarray and it has imposed a blockade on NATO supplies crossing overland into Afghanistan since US air strikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers along the border last November.