Militants kill 41 in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Stepping up its offensive in a backlash to the storming of Lal Masjid, suspected Taliban and Al Qaida militants on Sunday carried out a series of suicide bombings in Pakistan’s restive North West Frontier Province (NWFP) killing 41 people, most of them security personnel, and scrapped a peace pact with the government.

The country’s volatile tribal areas turned into virtual battle zones following three separate suicide attacks.

A suicide bomber struck a police station in the city of Dera Ismail Khan when recruitment of policemen was going on, district police officer said.

“At least 26 policemen were killed in the blast,” officials said.

Though there were no claims, the attack was suspected to have been carried out by local pro-Taliban militants who owed allegiance to radical clerics of Lal Masjid.