Pakistan: Would-be suicide bomber shoots himself

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) - A would-be suicide bomber shot himself dead Thursday when mourners confronted him at the funeral of a Pakistani police officer recently killed by militants, police said.

The bomber panicked and ran when people at the funeral in the northwestern Batkhela area grew suspicious of him, said Aziz Khan, a local police official.

It was unclear if the man had tried to detonate the explosives-filled vest found on his corpse. He was also carrying a hand grenade, Khan said.

The funeral was for a senior police officer killed along with four colleagues when militants fired rockets at their vehicles in the nearby Dir region on Wednesday.

Militants are waging an increasingly ruthless campaign against authorities and opponents in the northwest, extending their grip along the Afghan frontier where the Taliban and al-Qaida have sunk roots.

President Barack Obama has called on Pakistan to demonstrate its commitment to eliminating the safe havens, which Washington says are a vital rear base for the insurgency in Afghanistan.

As well as targeting security forces, suicide bombers have hit funerals, tribal councils and last week blew up a mosque in the Khyber Pass leading to the Afghan border, killing dozens of worshippers.

Also Thursday, authorities recovered the decapitated body of a police officer reportedly kidnapped by militants near the main northwestern city of Peshawar.

The officer was kidnapped Sunday along with a friend and his body was found in the nearby Matani area, local police officer Izharullah Khan said. There was no sign of the friend.
MyWay