PESHAWAR: At least 30 people were killed and several others were wounded in a bomb attack at a funeral in Peroo village of Lower Dir on Thursday, thou

PESHAWAR: At least 30 people were killed and several others were wounded in a bomb attack at a funeral in Peroo village of Lower Dir on Thursday, though the police said 20 had died.

“20 people were killed and 47 wounded,” said senior police official Salim Khan Marwat, adding that it appeared to have been a suicide attack.

Marwat added that the death toll was likely to rise.

According to initial reports, the blast was a suicide attack which targeted the funeral prayers of a tribal leader in the Samarbagh tehsil.

Bakh Zaman, the tribal leader, died in an accident on the Islamabad-Peshawar motorway on Wednesday.

According to eyewitnesses, ten people were killed and 50 others were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the funeral prayers of Zaman, who was a carpenter.

Another local senior police official Akhtar Hayat Gandapur confirmed the blast and said the explosion rocked funeral prayers of a local elder in Lower Dir’s Jandol town.

“We are trying to ascertain whether it was a timed device or suicide attack,” he said.

Hospital sources said they have received 15 bodies out of which only 10 have been identified.

Earlier on Tuesday, bombers killed a local leader of Awami National Party by blowing up his vehicle in Lower Dir.

In 2009, 30,000 troops went into battle against Taliban fighters.

The army declared the region back under control in July of that year and said the rebels had all been killed, captured or had fled.

Bombings blamed on Taliban and al Qaeda-linked networks have killed more than 4,630 people since 2007.