Taliban suicide bomber kills 11 in Pakistan

• A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

A Taliban suicide bomber in Pakistan's restive northwest killed at least 11 members of a rival, pro-government militant group on Thursday. The attack highlights the complicated divisions among militant groups operating in Pakistan, some of which receive support from the government or the powerful intelligence agency.

The Press Trust of India reports that the bomber targeted a roadside restaurant at a hotel in the busy bazaar area in the town of Jandola, in the Tank district just outside South Waziristan.

The bomber killed at least 11 people and wounded 20 others, most of them members of a militant faction opposed to Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud. South Waziristan is a stronghold of Mr. Mehsud's movement.

The bomber struck at a hotel in the busy Jandola Bazar in Tank district of Dera Ismail Khan, as scores of anti-Taliban militants sat down for their meals, TV channels quoted officials as saying.

Officials said the roadside restaurant's visitors at the time included some two dozen militants opposed to Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud. They were members of the 'Turkestan Bittani' group. However, their leader was not in the group.

The Associated Press reports that the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, calling it revenge for the deaths of Taliban fighters killed in clashes last year with Turkestan Bittani.

The Deccan Herald, of South India, reports that in January Turkestan Bittani joined forces with another faction, the Abdullah Mehsood group, to battle Mehsud's Taliban.

The BBC reports that Bittani had been "helping the military take on Mehsud," who is accused of plotting a string of attacks including the 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

US and Pakistani forces have turned up the heat on Mehsud, killing seven Arab militants in a South Waziristan drone attack on Wednesday, as well as putting a $5 million bounty on his head, the news service reports.

1 | 2

Next