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Bombs, suspected drone attack kill more than 40 in Pakistan

From Reza Sayah, CNN
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Former federal lawmaker and 25 others dead in suicide bombing, officials say
  • 11 suspected militants killed in possible drone attack, intelligence officials say
  • Six killed in other bomb explosions, officials say

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- At least 43 people -- including a former federal lawmaker and 11 suspected militants -- died in four attacks in northwest Pakistan, government and intelligence officials said Monday.

In the worst attack, 26 people, including the former lawmaker, were killed Monday afternoon when a teenage suicide bomber blew himself up inside a mosque, government officials told CNN.

Another 30 people were injured in the attack in Wana, the largest town in South Waziristan, said Jaan Muhammad, a senior government official. South Waziristan is one of seven districts in the mostly ungoverned tribal region along the Afghan border.

Mullah Noor Muhammad, the former lawmaker, is believed to have been the target of the attack, according to local political official Jamaat Azmat. He had just finished delivering a speech at the mosque when the suicide attacker walked up to him, shook his hand and then detonated his explosives, Azmat said.

Muhammad served in Pakistan's parliament from 1997 to 1999, representing the nation's Federally Administered Tribal Area.

Monday's suicide attack was the first in Pakistan in nearly three weeks.

Also Monday, an attack thought to be launched from a U.S. drone killed 11 suspected militants and injured several in Pakistan's tribal region. intelligence officials told CNN.

Two Pakistani intelligence officials said three missiles were fired by the suspected U.S. drone targeting a militant hideout in the village of Darga Mandi in North Waziristan. The intelligence officials did not want to be named because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Earlier in the day, at least three people died and seven were injured when a bomb exploded at a meeting of local tribal elders in Kurram, another district in Pakistan's tribal region.

The blast took place at a jirga in Khumatha, a village in Kurram, said Salah Uddin, a local official.

A jirga is an assembly of tribal elders used mostly by Pashtun people to resolve disputes and make important decisions.

Officials said it's not clear why the jirga was targeted.

Also in northwest Pakistan, two members of a local peace committee and a child were killed by a bomb, police told CNN.

Four other people were injured, police said.

Kalam Khan, a senior police official in Peshawar, said the bomb was attached to a fruit cart that was parked on a road in the village of Matni, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Peshawar. When members of the local peace committee passed near the cart, the bomb exploded, Khan said.

Local peace committees are volunteer pro-government militias that fight to drive militants out of their areas.

Journalist Nasir Habib contributed to this report.