Twelve dead after suicide bomb attack in Pakistan

November 8, 2009 Pakistani officials have said that a suicide bomber struck a crowded market today in northwest Pakistan, killing an anti- mayor. At least eleven other people were killed in the blast, and dozens were wounded.

Initially, Mayor Abdul Malik was reported to have survived the attack in the Matni area on the outskirts of the city of. The market was crowded with shoppers ahead of the Muslim festival of.

Officials said that Malik, a former Taliban supporter, had switched sides and raised a militia to fight the Taliban. He had survived several attempts on his life since shifting his allegiance.

"Malik had survived several attacks on his life in the recent past, since he turned against the militants," said the top Peshawar official, Sahibzada Anis. "But today the militants have finally killed him."