Suicide Bomber Kills 27 at Funeral in Pakistan

A suicide bomber today killed at least 27 people at the funeral of a police officer who had died in a roadside bomb earlier in the day, according to officials in north-west Pakistan.

At least 50 people were wounded in the attack in Swat, a mountainous region where Pakistani forces have been fighting Islamist militants for months.

The funeral was for Javed Iqbal, the deputy police chief of the Lakki Marwat district of North West Frontier Province, who was killed with his driver as they drove through the district.

The district chief, Arshad Majeed, who was at a local hospital, said authorities were making an emergency appeal for blood donations.

"We need blood for the injured people," he told the Associated Press.

Pakistan deployed troops to Swat this year to quell an uprising led by a pro-Taliban cleric and claims to have dispersed thousands of his militant followers. But attacks persist.

Last Friday, a roadside bomb hit a wedding party, killing 12 people. Before the militants moved into Swat last summer, the area's mountain scenery was a magnet for tourists.

Militants have stepped up attacks and taken control of tracts of north-west Pakistan bordering Afghanistan in the past few years.

Last year, the government deployed thousands of extra forces to Lakki Marwat and neighboring districts to prevent them from falling under the control of Taliban-style militants.

The district borders South Waziristan, a tribally governed region which is a base for militants fighting in Afghanistan. An explosion yesterday killed up to 12 suspected militants in a village in South Waziristan.

The army said it was caused by explosives stored in a house. But officials and residents said they suspected a missile. Thousands of tribesmen today gathered in protest in Wana, the region's main town, chanting anti-US slogan.

Speakers at the rally insisted the victims were Afghan refugees and warned the government they would break a peace accord if there were more attacks.