Wana : Suicide attack kills 6, injures Mullah Nazir
Nazir's fighters have been targeted and killed by US drone strikes.
WANA: Key Taliban commander Mullah Nazir was wounded Thursday in a suicide attack that killed six other people, security officials said.
Nazir is the main warlord affiliated to the Pakistani Taliban in South Waziristan, one of seven districts that make up the semi-autonomous tribal belt.
The bomber blew himself up near Nazir s vehicle as it passed through the market in Wana, the main town of the district, the officials said.
Two people were killed and at least five others were wounded, including Nazir, the officials told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"The bomber was a boy aged 13 or 14. Five to seven people were wounded, including Mullah Nazir. His condition is said to be not serious," one of the officials said.
But another official in Wana said Nazir was "seriously wounded" in the attack.
Mullah Nazir is an elder in the Wazir tribe and the main militant commander in South Waziristan, part of Pakistan s northwestern tribal belt considered a base for Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and other Islamist militants.
He and North Waziristan commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur confine their militant activities to Afghanistan, where they oppose the presence of US and NATO troops.
Nazir s fighters have been targeted and killed by US drone strikes but he reached a peace deal with Islamabad in 2007 and is said to have testy relations with the Pakistani Taliban, who have been waging a domestic insurgency since 2007.
Details of the attack were sketchy as militants quickly sealed off the scene in the main market of Wana, the capital of South Waziristan, but officials said the suicide bomber had rammed a motorcycle into Nazir s vehicle.
After the bomb detonated, shooting also broke out, the Pakistani officials told AFP on condition of anonymity.
One official said six people were killed and 11 wounded, including Nazir. Accounts differed over the gravity of his injuries, but most sources said he was not in danger.
"Nazir survived because he had already got out of the car," a passerby said.
An intelligence official based in the nearby district of Tank put the death toll at four and said at least nine others were wounded.
"Most of those killed and injured were his bodyguards. Mullah Nazir was also injured in the attack but his condition is out of danger," the official said.
Residents in Wana said the powerful blast damaged shops and shattered windows in a dozen vehicles.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible, but tribal affairs and militancy expert Rahimullah Yusufzai told AFP that Nazir had a long list of enemies and warned that Thursday s attack could spark a new wave of bloodshed.
Nazir opposes Uzbek fighters and has had awkward relations with Pakistan s umbrella Tehreek-e-Taliban faction, which is dominated by members of the rival Mehsud tribe.
He has survived attempts on his life in the past and has been an enemy of Uzbek fighters since curbing in 2007 the Uzbek uprising spearheaded by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) in South Waziristan, Yusufzai said.
An intelligence official based in the neighbouring district of Tank said there had been a suicide attack and that firing subsequently broke out in the main market of Wana.
"The bazaar is closed now. We re trying to get more information," he said.
Sources in Wana said Nazir, who has survived murder attempts in the past, had fallen out with Uzbek fighters he had expelled from South Waziristan several years ago.
