zolserebronza

Two suicide bombers dressed as police officers detonated explosive vests at a meeting of hundreds of people with the top civilian official in the tribal agency of Mohmand, killing more than 40 and wounding at least 100, government officials said.

The meeting, called a peace jirga, had been assembled to plan strategy to stand up to the Taliban, who have carved out a haven in the strategic tribal region on the Afghan border, resisting a nearly two-year campaign by the Pakistani military.

Such attacks have by now become a familiar tactic. Insurgents have often struck with suicide bombers at meetings of government officials and tribal elders to prevent them from forming anti-Taliban militias.

At the time of the attack Monday, the compound was filled with hundreds of anti-Taliban tribesmen and tribal elders who were meeting with the top civilian official in the region, Amjad Ali Khan, who escaped unhurt.

“This was their pre-emptive to stall a possible military operation,” Mr. Khan said afterward. “But we are not deterred.”

The bombers had filled their suicide jackets with bullets, rather than ball bearings, to make them more deadly, leaving many of the wounded in critical condition. Dressed as local tribal policemen, they struck inside the compound that houses Mr. Khan’s regional headquarters.

One bomber struck near the office of one of Mr. Khan’s deputies; the other set off his explosives when guards tried to overpower him.

Among those killed were two journalists from Pakistani television stations. The wounded were taken to hospitals in Peshawar, the provincial capital adjacent to Mohmand.

“Mondays are public days and usually we have 2,000 to 3,000 tribesmen,” Mr. Khan said. “Thank God, it was prayers time. Otherwise the casualty figure would have been much higher.”

A mountainous, heavily forested area with easy escape routes to Afghanistan, Mohmand is a strategically important region where the Taliban have managed to organize men and weapons with relative ease.

The army has been fighting in Mohmand for nearly two years, but has so far had little success in clearing the area of militants.

A similar attack earlier this year also focused on officials and people who were trying to form a lashkar, or local militia, to stand up to the Taliban. In that attack, an insurgent detonated a car bomb, killing more than 60 people.