Pat Dollard

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Apparently, these peace talks are making Al Qaeda and the Taliban nervous…perhaps they suspect these folks of having rolled over on Al Libi’s location…

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) – A suicide bomber blew himself up at a peacemaking meeting of tribal elders in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday, killing at least 40 people and injuring more than 100, witnesses and officials said. Several of the tribal elders were amongst the dead.

It was the third suicide bombing in as many days in the northwest, where security forces were battling pro-Taliban Islamic militants.

It took place at the public meeting in the tribal-majority town of Darra Adam Khel in North West Frontier Province about 25 miles south of the provincial capital, Peshawar. Tribal leaders had gathered to discuss peace in the volatile region.

“It was a huge explosion and left body parts and blood scattered on the ground,” said Ramin Khan, whose left leg and face were wounded.

Dr. Hamid Afridy, the area’s chief medical officer, said he counted 40 bodies, some with severed limbs and mutilated faces, at the site.

“We have dispatched more than 100 injured to .. hospitals” in Peshawar and Kohat town, he told The Associated Press. He said he feared the death toll could rise because many of the injured were in critical condition.

State-run Pakistan Television said the suspected bomber’s severed head was found.

Television footage showed blood, shoes and caps littering the bombing site—a tree-lined ground amid wheat fields that is only a few yards away from brick homes.

Darra Adam Khel resident Saeed Khan was near the site and said thousands of people from five tribes were meeting in the open area when the blast went off.

On Friday, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the funeral of a slain police officer in Mingora town in Swat Valley, killing more than 40 people and injuring at least 60. The next, day another suicide bombing in nearby Bajur killed one person and wounded 19 others, mostly security personnel.