PESHAWAR - The tribal police on Wednesday prevented two suicide bombers from blowing themselves up inside a packed football ground in the tribal region near the Afghan border, officials said.
However, one of the bombers managed to blow himself up outside the ground and the second died at the scene after being shot by police, during the attack that also killed one civilian.
The incident happened in Shiite-dominated Alizai area of lower Kurram tribal region where a football match was being played between local teams.
"The local tribal police opened fire on the two bombers as they tried to enter the ground, foiling their attempt to cause massive devastation," the top local administration official Amjad Ali Khan told AFP.
Two police officials were injured in the attack, he added.
Another local administration official Riaz Khan also confirmed the incident and casualties. Kurram is one of the seven autonomous tribal districts bordering Afghanistan where militants rose up against the Pakistani state in 2004.
Pakistan began a long-awaited push to clear insurgent bases from the North Waziristan tribal district last June after a bloody Taliban attack on Karachi airport finally sank faltering peace talks.
The army has intensified its offensive since the Taliban's massacre of 153 people, 134 of them children, in a school in Peshawar in December.
The semi-autonomous tribal areas on the Afghan border became a hideout for the militants of all stripes in the aftermath of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Pakistan has also been hit by a rising wave of sectarian violence in recent years, most of it carried out by militant Sunni Muslim groups targeting Shiites.
MINOR GIRL KILLED IN KOHAT GRENADE ATTACK
A minor girl was killed while her mother, father and sister sustained injuries in a hand grenade attack in Kohat district on Wednesday, police said.
According to details, unidentified miscreants hurled a hand grenade at the house of Zar Mohammad son of Khan Mohammad, resident of Mohammadzai village situated on Hangu-Kohat road at the wee hours.
The grenade exploded with a bang when Zar Mohammad and his family members were asleep. Resultantly, his four-year-old daughter Shahmila was killed on the spot while Zar Mohammad along with his wife Shahana and his other one and half-year-old daughter Sitara sustained multiple wounds in the attack.
They were rushed to district headquarters hospital where their conditions were stated to be stable.
Motive behind the attack was unknown. Police however rushed to the spot, lodged an FIR against unknown attackers and started investigation into the incident.