A SUICIDE bomber killed at least 30 people and wounded 40 attending prayers at a mosque in Pakistan.
The blast took place as the Pakistani army claimed it had been able to "turn the tide" against the Taleban in the nearby Swat Valley. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bomb at the Sunni Muslim mosque in the Haya Gai area of Upper
Dir.
Umer Rehman, a resident of Hayagai village, about 125 miles north-west of Islamabad, said the bomber struck as worshippers poured out of the mosque after Friday prayers. He said 12 of the 38 bodies identified by police were children.
Police said a man wearing an explosive vest entered the mosque, but was recognised by some worshippers as a stranger. When they confronted the man, he blew himself up.
Pakistani leaders insist they are serious about wiping out militancy in the north-west, especially in the Swat Valley, a one-time tourist haven that has been in the grip of the Taleban for the past two years.
Washington has given the operation its backing, seeing it as a test of Pakistan's resolve to beat al-Qaeda and Taleban militants implicated in attacks on western forces in neighbouring Afghanistan. But the generally broad support given by the Pakistani public for the operation could falter, if the policy sparks revenge attacks, or the government fails to resettle some three million refugees successfully.
Already there have been attacks in Peshawar and Lahore that officials say were revenge by the militants for Swat. Atif-ur-Rehman, a top official in Upper Dir's government, blamed the Taleban for the latest attack.
"It is obvious. They are Taleban," he said. "We can say it seems to be a reaction to the offensive in Swat."
Four soldiers were also killed by a roadside bomb in South Waziristan yesterday, according to two intelligence officials. The tribal region, which borders Afghanistan, is thought to be the next site of Pakistani military action against the Taleban.
The military insists the Taleban are attacking troops there in an attempt to distract the army away from Swat.
Hundreds of Swat residents yesterday gathered at Got Koto, an area just outside the valley. They were responding to reports that the government would be lifting a curfew in the main town of Mingora to let them go back.
But security forces on a main road stopped them, saying that they could not allow civilians back in yet.
"I want nothing from the government. I only want that we should be allowed to go back to our Mingora city," said Dilawar Khan, 40, as his four children and two wives stood by him under the shade of a tree. The family had been staying at a relief camp in Mardan.
Zubayda Bibi, one of the wives, complained about conditions at the camps. "We can no longer sit at the camps where there is only dust, diseases and heat," she said. Even if damaged, "home is better than anything".
In a meeting with the United States special envoy, Richard Holbrooke, yesterday, Pakistan's prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, asked for the US to write off Pakistan's debt, which stood at $1.55 billion (almost £1bn) at the end of March, and expedite the supply of military hardware.
Mr Gilani said the latest suicide attack would not "deter the government from its resolve to eliminate this scourge (of terrorism] from the country".
Mr Holbrooke did not directly address the request to write off the debt when he held a news conference yesterday, but said he would meet treasury and state department officials when he returns to Washington "to see what additional things we can do to assist Pakistan".
TALEBAN OUSTED FROM SWAT
PAKISTANI troops launched the Swat offensive about a month ago after militants undermined a peace deal by infiltrating a neighbouring district just 60 miles from the capital, Islamabad. The offensive has also covered Buner and Lower Dir.
About 160,000 of the displaced Pakistanis are now living in relief camps. The US has pledged $110 million (£69m) to help the refugees. United States special envoy Richard Holbrooke this week announced plans for an additional $200m.
Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said this week that major population centres and roads leading to the valley were rid of Taleban resistance. But he said security forces were still hunting top militant commanders and that isolated incidents of violence were likely to continue.
