Lower Dir: Suicide blast kills 40, injures 68

The bomber blew himself up during funeral prayers on Thursday, striking as mourners were preparing for funeral being held in open ground near corn fields in Jandol town in the district of Lower Dir, 100 kilometres from Swat Valley.The blast came two days after four boys connected to another northwestern anti-militant group were killed in another explosion that was claimed by the Pakistani Taliban.There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Thursdays attack.At least 40 people were killed and more than 68 wounded in the attack, said senior police official Salim Khan Marwat, adding that the bomber targeted members of a state-sponsored anti-Taliban militia operating in the area.It was a suicide attack. A bomber came on foot and blew himself up in the middle of people as they were about to start prayers.Local senior police official Akhtar Hayat Gandapur said there were more than 100 people attending the funeral.The owner of a medical store in Jandol described scenes of bloody devastation following the explosion.I could see pools of blood everywhere on the ground with pieces of flesh... lying on the ground, said store owner Zahoor Khan.There were mutilated bodies everywhere... People were collecting the remains of the dead in bed sheets and these scenes were very disturbing.On Tuesday on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Peshawar, gateway to the militant-infested tribal zone, the Pakistani Taliban ambushed a school bus, killing four boys and the driver.Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan said the attack was to punish a local tribe which formed a lashkar, or group, against it.The children studied at an elite English-language school of a type reviled by hardline Islamist militants who oppose what they see as Western-imported, secular education.Also in Lower Dir on Tuesday, a local leader in the areas main ruling Awami National Party was killed when a makeshift bomb blew up his vehicle.