Two suicide bombers dressed in burqas blew themselves up on Saturday in a camp for refugees fleeing military offensives in northwestern Pakistan, killing 41 people and wounding 62, officials said.
The United Nations said it was temporarily suspending its programs helping displaced people
in Kohat and neighbouring Hangu as a result of the bombings.
The blasts occurred at a food distribution point, but there were conflicting reports whether the victims were
lining up for food or being
registered.
The camp in the Kohat region is sometimes used by foreign humanitarian groups, including the World Food Program, to deliver aid.
The two suicide bombers struck six minutes apart at a camp in the Kacha Pukka area of Kohat, a tribally administered region close to the Afghan border. They were dressed in burqas, the all-encompassing veil worn by conservative Muslim women in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan, local police official Abdullah Khan said. Government official Dilawar Khan Bangash said 41 people were killed and 62 were wounded in the attack.
The camp was for people who fled from the Orakzai district, where the army has been fighting militants since the end of last year.
The tempo of the operations has picked since March, with frequent aerial bombardment. The camp housed between 1,000 and 2,000 people.
There was no claim of responsibility.
Pak army says sorry
Meanwhile, the Pakistani army admitted that civilians were killed in an airstrike last Saturday in the northwest that supposedly targeted militants.
It did not say how many had died, but apologised in a rare acknowledgment of an error that could help reduce anger among local tribes, whose support it needs to defeat the Taliban and Al Qaeda.