Dead and injured in bomb attack in Pakistan’s restive province

At least eight special anti-terror units have been killed in a bomb attack in Pakistan. Dozens of other security forces were said to have been injured in the blast in the unrest-torn province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, officials said Monday night. The attack took place in the Swat Valley, home of the famous Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai.

The strong explosion at an anti-terror center caused the entire building to collapse and many people were trapped under the rubble, the local police chief of the German news agency in Islamabad said. More deaths are feared. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

A conflict between the government and the Pakistani Taliban TTP has been smoldering for years in the South Asian nuclear power of Pakistan. Attempts to negotiate a permanent ceasefire between Islamabad and the militant Islamists have so far failed to materialise. The Pakistani Taliban are independent of the Islamist Taliban government in neighboring Afghanistan.

At the end of January, more than 100 people were killed in an attack in the Pakistani city of Peshawar in a high-security zone. The Secret Service blamed the TTP, which in turn distanced itself. (sda/dpa)