PESHAWAR, Pakistan, July 16 (Reuters) - A bomb blast in a weekly bazaar killed eight people and wounded 14 in Pakistan's tribal region of Khyber on the Afghan border on Friday, a senior government official said.
The blast occurred in Meharban Kaley, a village some 70 km (40 miles) southwest of region’s main town of Landikotal.
"The device was apparently planted somewhere in a shop. We have removed eight bodies from the rubble," Rehan Khattak, a government official in the region, told Reuters.
He said 14 people were wounded in the blast.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. In recent months, Pakistan has stepped up an assault in Khyber against militants who want to impose harsh, Taliban-style Islamic rule in the region. The military says Khyber has largely been cleared of militants.
Militants frequently attack supplies trucked through the region to Western forces stationed in Afghanistan.
In the neighbouring Orakzai tribal region, fighter planes targeted militants’ positions on Friday, killing 15, officials said.
There was no independent verification of the casualty figures, and militant groups often dispute the military’s accounts.
Separately, unidentified gunmen attacked and torched six Afghanistan-bound tankers carrying fuel and supplies in southwest Baluchistan, police said.
Chaman is another Pakistani border crossings used for the transport of food and fuel supplies to Western nations battling a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan.
