Suicide blast at Pakistan funeral kills 12

A suicide bomber blew himself up at a funeral near the northwestern city of Peshawar on Sunday, killing at least 12 people and wounding more than 30 others, police and hospital officials said.

The blast went off near a graveyard where people had just offered funeral prayers in the Badaber area on the outskirts of Peshawar, senior police officer Kalam Khan said.

"It was a suicide attack, we have found the head and legs of the bomber," he said. "The death toll is 12 now and the number of wounded is more than 30."

Doctor Rahim Jan, a local hospital official, confirmed the toll.

Peshawar police chief Imtiaz Altaf also said he believed it was a suicide bombing.

Nobody claimed responsibility for the blast but Islamist militants have carried out several attacks in the area.

The blast went off after mourners had offered prayers for a local woman.

Police believe deputy speaker of the provincial assembly, Khushdil Khan, who was present at the funeral, could have been the target.

Khushdil Khan who belongs to the secular Awami National Party is on the hit list of the Pakistani Taliban militants, police officer Khan said.

"He was not hurt, he is safe," Khan added.

Peshawar has a population of 2.5 million people and has long been on the frontline of violence blamed on an insurgency led by Taliban militants opposed to Islamabad's alliance with the United States.

Militants have killed more than 4,900 people across Pakistan since government troops raided an extremist mosque in Islamabad in July 2007.

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