Suicide bomber kills 30 in northwest Pakistan

September 18, 2009

A suicide bomber in a village in northwestern Pakistan has killed at least thirty people on Friday, according to a police official. Fifteen other people were wounded.

The explosion occurred in Usterzai, near the town of Kohat. A two-story hotel and some vehicles near it were destroyed, and a nearby bazaar was also damaged. According to police, the bomb consisted of over three hundred pounds of explosive material. "A suicide bomber blew up a car filled with explosives in the market," said policeman Ali Hasan.

A police car that was dispatched after the explosion was attacked by Usterzai's residents, who were upset that the police did not provide sufficient security for the neighbourhood.

Kohat is located in the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan, thirty miles south of Peshawar and a hundred miles west of the Pakistani capital Islamabad. The province is a home to many Taliban rebels, and there has been a significant amount of sectarian violence in the area.