World Food Program Closes Centers In NW Pakistan After Attack
By RFE RL
(RFE/RL) — The World Food Program has closed down its aid distribution centers in northwest Pakistan after a suicide attack that left at least 43 people dead.
Shafiq Khan, a WFP official, said four relief centers in the lawless Bajur district, near the border with Afghanistan, have been shut on orders of the regional government following the December 25 attack in the main town of Khar.
An attacker wearing a traditional woman’s burqa lobbed two grenades into a crowd of people queueing for food stamps, before detonating an explosive vest.
The attack was condemned today by Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai, who in a statement urged Pakistan to “spare no effort in eliminating” those behind the attack.
Karzai’s statement also stressed strengthening cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan to combat terrorism.
