Six dead in US embassy attack, 46 others at rally bombing
A suicide bomber has killed 46 people at a celebration organised by the leading secular political party in north-west Pakistan. Hours later, six people, including four attackers, died when militants tried to storm the US consulate in Peshawar.
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The suicide bomber attacked the open-air gathering in Timargarah, the main town in the district of Lower Dir, where Pakistan waged a major offensive against local Taliban insurgents last year.
Correspondent Behroz Khan in Peshawar
Residents said the bomb exploded close to the stage at the political gathering, with police later confirming it was a suicide attack.
"There are more than 100 injured. Most of them are in a serious condition," Doctor Wakeel Ahmed, head of the main hospital in Timargarah, told AFP.
The Awami National Party, the secular political party that dominates government in North West Frontier Province organised the meeting to celebrate plans to rename the province Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
In Peshawar, which lies on the edge of Pakistan's tribal belt, six people were killed when heavily-armed militants tried to storm the US consulate. The attack has been claimed by the Taliban.
"They came in two vehicles. The militants were well-equipped. It was a well-organised attack," said Bashir Ahmed Bilour, senior minister in the North West Frontier Province government.
Pakistan's main Taliban faction threatened to carry out further assaults on Americans.
"We accept the attacks on the American consulate. This is revenge for drone attacks," Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Azam Tariq told AFP.
"We have already told you that we have 2,800 to 3,000 fedayeen (suicide bombers). We will carry out more such attacks. We will target any place where there are Americans".
Most of Pakistan’s violence has been concentrated in the north-west and has been blamed on militants opposed to Pakistan's alliance with the United States in the war on Al-Qaeda and against the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan.
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