Suicide Attack leaves 35 Pak Dead

Suicide attack leaves 35 Pak soldiers dead

Peshawar: A suicide attacker detonated a bomb at a Pakistan army training base in the northwest on Wednesday, killing at least 35 soldiers and wounding several others who were doing their morning exercises, the military said.

It was the deadliest attack so far on the Pakistani military, which has been waging a campaign to clear pro-Taliban militants from the northwestern border region that they have used as a sanctuary and staging rea for forays into neighbouring Afghanistan.

''A man wrapped in cloak came running into the training area and exploded himself where recruits had gathered for training,'' a military statement said of the early morning attack in Dargai town. It said at least 35 soldiers died.

Dargai is the army's main training centre, and is located about 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province.

It also lies about 75 kilometres (45 miles) northwest of Bajur tribal region where the Oct. 30 Pakistan army raid on an Islamic school killed 80 people most of them students and sparked furious protests across the country.

Although no one claimed responsibility for the attack on the army base, suspicion immediately fell on Islamic militants who have publicly vowed to target the army with suicide attacks to avenge the airstrike.

''We heard a deafening sound of a blast in the morning. Now, people say a bomb had exploded at the army training camp,'' said Akbar Khan, a local resident.

Pakistan's Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao condemned the attack and linked it to the Bajur incident.