Food centres shut after bombing

Injured victims of the suicide bombing are treated at a local hospital in Khar. -- PHOTO: AP

KHAR (Pakistan) - AUTHORITIES have temporarily closed food aid distribution centres in northwest Pakistan, an official said on Sunday, a day after a female suicide bomber killed 45 people and wounded scores more outside a World Food Program depot in the region.

Shafiq Khan, an official with the WFP food distribution project, said the regional government ordered the temporary closure of all four food relief centres in the Bajur district following Saturday's bombing in the area's main town of Khar.

The WFP project in Bajur feeds thousands of people who have been displaced since early 2009 by fighting between the Pakistan military and insurgents in the country's rugged tribal regions along the Afghan border.

It was not immediately clear how long the food distribution points would be closed.

The decision to temporarily shut down the programme's food depots over security concerns was prompted by Saturday's attack, when a burqa-clad bomber lobbed two hand grenades before detonating her explosive belt among a crowd of some 300 people outside the United Nations agency's aid centre in Khar.

It was the latest militant strike against the Pakistani authorities' control over the key tribal region bordering Afghanistan. -- AP