Bombers strike as officials discuss anti-militancy campaign PESHAWAR: A pair of suicide bombers disguised as policemen killed 50 people Monday in an attack targeting a tribal meeting called to discuss the formation of an anti-Taliban militia in northwest Pakistan, officials said. “There were two bombers. They were on foot. The first blew himself up inside the office of one of my deputies while the second one set off explosives when guards caught him,” said Amjad Ali Khan, the top government official in Mohmand region, who appeared to be the target of the attack. Pakistan's army has said several offensives it has launched since last year have weakened Al-Qaeda-linked Pakistani Taliban militants seeking to destabilise the US-backed government. “Whenever you put pressure on them, they fight back and this phenomenon will not be over in days. They will strike whenever they will get a chance,” said Mehmood Shah, former chief of security in Pakistan's tribal regions. Pakistan Taliban spokesman Omar Khalid said the group carried out the Mohmand attack, saying it was in response to what he said was the Pakistani government's recent decision to hand over Arab militants to the United States. “The blasts destroyed many rooms in the compound and our reports are 50 people were killed and many wounded,” a senior security official in the region said. When the bombers struck, Khan was holding talks with tribesmen on the need to further strengthen militias who are helping the government fight militancy.
