SUCIDAL BOM RAIDS KILL MORE THAN 80 IN PAKISTAN

Injured victims of suicide bombing are treated at Lady Reading hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan

KHAR, Pakistan - More than 80 were killed including six policemen and more than 100 wounded in a suicide bombing. A suicide bomber wearing a burqa, who some officials said was a woman. Authorities say it may be the first suicide attack by a female in Pakistan.
The blast occurred in Khar, the main town of lawless Bajaur tribal district, once a stronghold of Taliban militants who have carried out several bombings and suicide attacks in the area.
The bomber, dressed in the head-to-toe burqa robes that women commonly wear Pakistan and Afghanistan, was challenged by police at a check point, officials said.

She then charged toward a group of 300 people lined up outside the food aid distribution center in the town of Khar, tossing two hand grenades before blowing herself up, officials said. The crowd was made up of people who have fled conflicts elsewhere in the area.

The attack in Khar, the main city in the Bajur region of Pakistan's northwest, came a day after 150 militants waged pitched gun battles against five security posts in the adjourning Mohmand tribal region to the south.
Tribal police officials Mubashir Khan and Munasib Khan also said the attacker was a woman, who resisted being searched and hurled a hand grenade at security guards at the checkpoint before triggering her bomb.

Source: AP