Bomb kills mourners at police funeral

MINGORA, Pakistan, Feb. 29 (UPI) -- A suicide bomber killed at least 40 people at a funeral for a Pakistani police official also killed by a bomb earlier in the day.

Police officials in Mingora in the Swat district confirmed the death toll, the Pakistan Tribune reported. They said that the bomb went off as officers performed a last salute to Javed Iqbal.

At least 1,000 people were at the funeral for Iqbal, one of three officers killed when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb, believed to have been detonated by remote control. The bombing occurred in Lakki Marwat, a remote area near the Afghan border where Iqbal was in charge of police.

Many of the dead and injured at the funeral were also police officers.

The Swat valley in northwest Pakistan was a popular tourist destination until it became a stronghold of al-Qaida and Taliban fighters.