PAKISTAN: Suicide attack in a mosque allegedly carried out by a teenage boy

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Summary: A bomb ripped through a crowded mosque in Pakistan's tribal belt, killing at least 40 people who had gathered for Friday prayers and injuring more than 100.

[19 August 2011] - The suspected suicide blast was in a village near Jamrud, the main town in the Khyber tribal region, close to the Afghan border. The first major attack in Pakistan during Ramadam, it is thought to be the work of extremists linked to al-Qaida. Some reports put the death toll at more than 50.

The bomb exploded in an area inhabited by the Kukikhel tribe. Earlier this month, Kukikhel militiamen blew up vehicles carrying a group of Pakistani Taliban in the Tirah valley, a remote and dangerous part of Khyber. More recently locals repelled an incursion by the Taliban. "The message here from the Taliban is that we can attack you at your home," said Zahid, [a resident who wished to remain anonymous]. Read full article

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has strongly condemned the suicide bombing saying that he was “appalled at this deliberate attack at a place of worship during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and the reported use of a teenager to perpetrate the attack.”

The statement stressed that the United Nations will continue to stand by Pakistan in its efforts to combat terrorism. Read statement

Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy added her voice to the Secretary-General’s condemnation of those who allegedly used a teenage boy to carry out a suicide bomber earlier today in Pakistan.

“Throughout the year, in different countries, we have witnessed an increase in the use of child suicide bombers and child victim bombers, those who do not even know they are carrying explosives. A more despicable act is hard to fathom,” said SRSG Coomaraswamy, “those who use girls and boys’ bodies as bombs are the worst victimizers of children. We hope that international outcry from every continent and creed will help bring an end to this practice.” Read statement

 

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    Country: 
    Pakistan

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