Suicide bomber kills 12 in Pakistan: police

HANGU, Pakistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber attacked a convoy of civilians guarded by security forces in Pakistan's northwest on Friday, killing at least 12 people and wounding 30, police said.

Suicide bombings have eased in recent weeks but it is not clear whether that is because security has improved after military gains against the Pakistani Taliban or if the insurgents are merely regrouping for more attacks.

"Our convoy was hit by a big explosion," said witness Javed Hussain, who was in the convoy of vehicles carrying Shi'ite Muslims to the city of Peshawar.

"It's all chaos here. I myself have seen four dead, two of them are children. I have seen four wounded women."

Pakistan's Taliban, who are Sunni Muslims, have carried out waves of bombings, killing hundreds of people and hitting everything from crowded markets to mosques to military and police facilities in their drive to topple the U.S.-backed government.

Shi'ites, a minority in Pakistan, have also been targeted.

Mir Chaman, deputy superintendent of police in Hangu, said at least 12 people were killed and 30 wounded in the bombing.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan has launched two big offensives in the northwest over the past year against the al Qaeda-backed Taliban, who want to impose their austere version of Islamic rule.

The operations have destroyed militant bases and Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud is widely believed to have been killed in a U.S. drone strike in January. His predecessor was killed in a similar strike by a pilotless aircraft in August.

GUNSHIPS

Separately, army helicopter gunships attacked a militant hideout in the Mohmand region where Faqir Mohammad, a senior Pakistani Taliban leader, and other fighters were believed to be hiding, said an official from the paramilitary Frontier Corps.

"We attacked and destroyed the hideout but we cannot confirm whether he has been killed. We expect a high casualty figure," the official said.

Despite such army attacks, the Taliban have proven resilient, often melting away during offensives to other parts of the lawless northwest, a global hub for militants.

That is one reason why Pakistan has resisted pressure to also go after Afghan Taliban groups who cross the frontier to attack Western forces in Afghanistan.

Pakistan says it lacks the resources to open up new fronts. But analysts say Pakistan sees these Taliban groups as a counterweight to rival India in Afghanistan, which could witness a regional grab for influence after U.S. forces withdraw.

Despite resisting U.S. pressure to launch an offensive against Afghan Taliban factions, Pakistan has arrested several senior members of the Afghan Taliban in recent weeks, including a top military commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.

A Pakistani TV channel said on Thursday a close associate of supreme Afghan Taliban commander Mullah Mohammad Omar had also been picked up in Pakistan.

The private ARY television channel said the Taliban official, Agha Jan Motasim, had been detained in Karachi. But the government and military said they had no information about any such arrest.

Pakistan has confirmed it was holding only Baradar, the most high-profile capture of an Afghan Taliban official since the group was ousted in a U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

Analysts have said it was too early to say if the arrest of Baradar and the others represented a real change to Pakistan's policy of turning a blind eye to the militants and their support networks on its soil.

Pakistan wants to play a major role in any efforts to end the Afghan war, to ensure a long-term say in its western neighbor and keep Indian influence at bay.

(Additional reporting by Aizaz Mohmand and Kamran Haider; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Robert Birsel)