PARACHINAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber on a motorcycle attacked a progovernment tribal elder’s vehicle in northwest Pakistan today, killing at least eight people, police said.
The elder, Malik Habibullah Khan, was not in the vehicle at the time of the attack, but his brother and a guard were killed, said police officer Aleem Khan. The explosion in Hangu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province also wounded nine people, several of whom are in critical condition, the officer said.
The blast damaged several nearby vehicles and shops.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. Suspicion likely will fall on the Pakistani Taliban, which has been fighting a bloody insurgency against the government that has killed thousands of civilians and security personnel.
The Pakistani government has in the past encouraged tribesmen in the northwest to form militias to fight against the Taliban.
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