A suicide bomber has killed an anti-Taliban mayor and at least 11 other people in an attack near Pakistan's volatile city of Peshawar. Skip related content
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Deadly suicide attack in Pakistani village
The bomber blew himself up as Abdul Malik, mayor of Matni village, was visiting a market crowded with people and goats being sold for the upcoming Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.
Mohammad Mukhtar, a doctor at Peshawar's main government hospital, said: "Twelve people have been killed, including a four-year-old child, and 36 people are wounded."
Matni is close to the lawless tribal lands where Islamist militants are active. Militant groups have unleashed a campaign of bomb and suicide attacks in Pakistan in recent weeks in retaliation for a major offensive launched by security forces in their main bastion, South Waziristan, on the Afghan border.
The army said on Sunday that 20 militants were killed in the latest fighting there, taking their death toll to 478 since the offensive began.
Forty-four soldiers have been killed in the same period, according to military figures, although there can be no independent verification of casualties as reporters are not allowed into the war zone.
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