PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A suicide bomber killed 67 people Friday at a mosque frequented by tribal elders opposed to the Pakistani Taliban. Hours later, three people died in a grenade attack on another mosque associated with anti- Taliban militia.
The strikes in northwest Pakistan were a reminder of the potency of the Taliban and their al-Qaeda allies along the Afghan border despite U.S.- backed army offensives. The Obama administration thinks success against insurgents there is key to its hopes of winning the war in Afghanistan.
The first attack Friday happened at midday in the town of Darra Adam Khel, a militant stronghold that lies on the edge of Pakistan’s semiautonomous tribal region.
The bomber, who authorities said appeared to be a teenager, ran into the mosque where several hundred worshipers were gathered for midday prayers on the holiest day of the week. He detonated explosives around his waist.
Local government official Shahid Ullah said tribesmen running an anti-Taliban militia often met at the mosque, but they were not there on this particular Friday.
Another official, Saeed Khan, said 67 were killed and 100 others were wounded.
It was the deadliest suicide bombing since a pair of attackers killed 102 people and wounded 168 in the Mohmand tribal region in July.
GEO News TV reported that the Pakistani Taliban, an umbrella group of local militants based in the tribal region, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Later on Friday, three hand grenades exploded during evening prayers at a mosque in Peshawar’s Badhber district, 14 miles from the first attack.
Allied to insurgents in Afghanistan, the Pakistani Taliban have carried out scores of attacks over the past three years against army, government and foreign targets and allegedly trained the Pakistani-American who attempted to blow up a car bomb in Times Square this year.
