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41 dead as suicide blast hits northwest Pakistan
A devastating suicide bomb hit northwest Pakistan killing 41 people Monday, as the military geared up for an assault on Taliban rebels blamed for increasingly bloody and brazen attacks.
The bomber, reported to be aged about 13, flung himself at a military convoy passing through a busy market in Shangla, a northwest district near Swat where the army claimed to have flushed out Taliban rebels after a fierce offensive.
But Islamist extremist groups appear far from quashed, with an audacious raid on army headquarters over the weekend leaving 23 people dead and underscoring the vulnerability of the nuclear-armed nation. Eight days of bloodshed.
At least 116 people have been killed in a series of devastating blasts and attacks in Pakistan in the last four days.