Suicide bombers kill 20 people in food line at refugee camp in northwestern Pakistan

Suicide bombers kill 20 at Pakistani refugee camp

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Two suicide bombers attacked refugees Saturday as they lined up for food at a camp for people fleeing military offensives in northwestern Pakistan, killing 20 people and wounding about 50, police said.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani army admitted that civilians were killed in an air raid last Saturday in the northwest that supposedly targeted militants. It did not say how many had died, but apologized in a rare acknowledgment of an error by the force.

The 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, local police Chief Rashid Khan said.

Pakistan has been hit by near-daily explosions over the last 18 months blamed on al-Qaida and Taliban militants. Most have been directed at security or government installations, but civilians have also been targeted.

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.

Khan said at least 20 people were killed and 50 others wounded in the twin bombings.

There was no claim of responsibility, but that is not unusual in instances where ordinary Pakistani citizens are victims of bomb attacks.

Earlier, an official said security forces backed by artillery and helicopters killed at least 25 militants in Orakzai late Friday.

About 210,000 civilians have fled from Orakzai since the fighting began at the end of last year, including nearly 50,000 people who have left in the last month when ground forces moved into the area to flush out insurgents.

There have been fewer bombings in major cities outside of the northwest during the first three months of this year compared to late last year. The slowdown follows a major offensive in the North Waziristan tribal region, where many militants had been based.

The army’s apology was for airstrikes in the Khyber region last Saturday that villagers said killed about 70 people.

The army spokesman had insisted the dead were militants, even when members of the local administration said they were compensating the families of civilian victims.

In a brief statement Saturday, army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said he ordered that measures be taken to avoid such “unfortunate incidents” in the future.

The Pakistani military regularly claims to have killed many militants in airstrikes, shellings and ground operations in the northwest, but rarely mentions civilian deaths. It is unclear whether few such deaths occur, or if the army simply does not report them.

Independent accounts of army operations in the tribal regions are extremely rare. Much of the area is still controlled by militants and is out of bounds for reporters.