Topic: Suicide Bombing Kills 35 At Funeral

Washington Times
March 1, 2008
Pg. 6
Pakistan

PESHAWAR — A suicide attacker blew himself up at a funeral yesterday for a slain policeman in Pakistan's volatile Swat Valley, killing at least 35 persons, including the officer's 16-year-old son.
It was the deadliest attack in the country since the Feb. 18 parliamentary elections. And it was the bloodiest in the Swat Valley since militant followers of a pro-Taliban cleric grabbed control of large parts of the scenic corner of Pakistan's restive northwest.
President Pervez Musharraf sent in thousands of troops in November to reassert government control over the valley. The army says it has retaken most of Swat, but attacks persist and the leader of the uprising, Mullah Fazlullah, remains at large.
Javed Iqbal, the deputy police chief of the Lakki Marwat district, and his driver were killed in a roadside bomb yesterday morning. The explosion occurred just as the pallbearers lifted the coffin to carry it toward the grave. One of the pallbearers was Mr. Iqbal's 16-year-old son Ghazan, who was killed.