Bomb kills 42 at council in Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, March 2 (UPI) -- A suicide bomber killed at least 42 people in northwest Pakistan Sunday during a gathering of tribal elders discussing Taliban activity, reports said.

The Sunday incident at the tribal gathering in Darra Adamkhel, near the provincial capital of Peshawar, also injured 58 people, The New York Times reported.

Local officials were quoted as saying the attack was carried out by a teenage suicide bomber as those at the meeting discussed ways to end the violence blamed on pro-Taliban and al-Qaida militants.

It was third such attack in the region near the border with Afghanistan. An explosion Friday in the Swat valley region killed 46 people at the funeral of a police officer, himself a victim of a roadside bombing, the Times report said. On Saturday, a bomb attack on a tribal security force vehicle killed two persons and injured 24 more.

The Pakistani military has been conducting a campaign since January to regain control of the area.

Prior to the attack, the Sunday tribal meeting had voted to form a tribal force to confront the militants. Several tribal leaders were feared to be among those killed in the attack.