Suicide bomber kills 25 at funeral in Pakistan
The blast during yesterday’s ceremony in the Lower Dir region, 15 miles (25 kilometers) west of the Afghan border, also wounded 60 people.
The bomber struck as around 200 mourners were attending the funeral in the Shina Samar Bagh village, police officer Sher Hassan Khan said.
Another police officer, Salim Marwat, said the attacker hid in a nearby field and then ran toward the graveyard shouting “Allah Akbar!” — the Arabic phrase meaning “God is Great” that is also a Muslim rallying cry — and then detonated his bomb.
Witness Gull Rehman said he saw the attacker, who was killed in the bombing, describing him as a man with a long beard. Rehman said he was knocked down by the blast but he was able to get up and help transport the injured to hospitals.
The scene of the attack was strewn with bloodstained shoes in the blood-soaked grassy field, and officers collecting pieces of the bomb.