At least three people were killed in a
powerful blast outside a mosque in north-west Pakistan, media reports said
Monday.
Two more people were injured in the explosion that occurred in Bajaur district
of country's restive tribal region bordering Afghanistan, the Dawn News channel
reported.
The nature of the blast was not immediately clear.
It came on the same day as pro-Taliban militants claimed responsibility for a
weekend suicide bombing that killed 13 people near an army base, saying it was
carried out to avenge a US missile attack in Bajaur.
A bomber blew himself up Sunday in a military-run bakery near the Punjab
Regimental Centre in the Mardan district of North-West Frontier Province. Among
the dead were four soldiers, and more than 20 people were injured.
"Our colleagues in Mardan have carried out this attack in response to the
bombing in Damadola," Maulvi Omar, a spokesman for the militant umbrella
organization Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, said in a statement.
Two guided missiles allegedly fired from a US drone hit a militant hideout
Wednesday in the Damadola area of the Bajaur tribal district bordering Afghanistan. More than a dozen people, including the brother of a local Taliban commander,
were killed.
Two days later, Islamabad lodged a formal protest with US-led coalition forces
in Afghanistan, but the militants said they believe the attack could not have
been conducted without the assistance of Pakistani security forces.
"The government should avoid such action which could suspend the peace
process," Omar said, referring to the talks the new government recently
opened with the rebels.
The peace negotiations have led to a sharp decline in suicide attacks, which
have killed more than 1,000 people over the past 14 months.
But they have also raised concerns in Washington, which wants a tough stance
from Islamabad on insurgents launching crossborder attacks on international
forces in Afghanistan, dpa reported.