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| Orakzai blast toll rises to 82 |
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Sunday, October 12, 2008
By Syed Hasan Mahmood & Mushtaq Yusufzai
KALAYA/PESHAWAR: The death toll from Friday's suicide attack on a tribal Jirga in the Orakzai Agency rose to 82 on Saturday while collective funeral prayers were offered in different villages.
A suicide bomber had rammed an explosives-laden pick-up into a Jirga of the Ali Khel tribe in Khadizai area of the Orakzai Agency.
No militant group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but security officials suspect that Darra Adamkhel-based militants, affiliated with Baitullah Mehsud-led Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), are responsible for the blast.
The Ali Khel tribal Jirga in the Orakzai Agency was convened to devise a strategy to raise a tribal Lashkar against the Taliban militants, when it came under attack.
Official and tribal sources told The News that majority of the blast victims died on the spot due to lack of medical facilities and immediate transportation to hospitals.
A senior government official based in Ghiljo, Tehsil headquarters of the Orakzai Agency, said that they had collected names of only 29 victims so far. He said majority of the people who died in the attack were directly shifted to their homes by their relatives and, therefore, it would take some time to receive the exact data of the victims.
According to hospital sources, 45 people had died on the first day of the suicide attack and over a hundred sustained injuries.
Around 37 members of the tribal Jirga died on the spot, nine succumbed to their injuries in the district headquarters hospital Hangu, six in Kohat, 19 in the ill-equipped Ghiljo Hospital while 11 others lost their lives on their way to hospitals.
Tribal sources said among the victims, 17 belonged to Dabori village, 15 to Khadizai, 13 to Teri, seven to Ramazan Killay, nine to Kot Killay, 12 to Ghootak village, three to Ghundi Killay and two each were from Nari Killay, Chappar Killay and Zargari village.
Some of desperate tribesmen were seen visiting various hospitals to locate their near and dear ones.
Officials of the political administration said they had received reports that dozens of people had gone missing after the blast. "We will collect details of all the victims of the blast after the situation becomes normal," said an official who wished not to be named.
According to the official, five bodies, which had been disfigured in the explosion, were still lying in the Ghiljo hospital for identification.
Moving scenes were witnessed in the tribal region where collective funeral prayers for the blast victims were offered in various villages.
The tribesmen were particularly grieved over the loss of tribal elders, who were always seen in the frontline in difficult times. They were also critical of the government's alleged failure to provide adequate health and transportation facilities to the blast victims.
They complained about lack of doctors and medical facilities for the injured people in public sector hospitals.
The sources also rejected reports of an exchange of fire between the tribal Lashkar and militants after the suicide blast.
Orakzai Agency's assistant political agent Naeem Anwar Saddozai told reporters that 51 people were confirmed dead in the suicide bombing that targetted a big tribal Jirga in Khadeezai area on Friday. He said 17 people were killed on the spot and another 34 died in hospitals.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
