Bomb kills eight anti-Taliban tribesmen

A bomb planted at a checkpoint manned by members of a militia fighting a radical group similar to the Taliban exploded Sunday and killed eight militia members in northwest, a government official said.
The blast in the border region with Afghanistan shows the challenges that these militias and their government supporters face as they try to purge the volatile border region of groups such as the Taliban and al-Qaida who have grown in strength over the last decade.
Tribal agency official Iqbal Khan said six more members of the militia were wounded in the incident which took place in the Tirah valley of the Khyber tribal region.
The complex attack started when a bomb planted at the checkpoint was detonated by a timer, Khan said. Then as the militiamen were retrieving the bodies, the militants opened fired on them. The militiamen escaped unhurt, but two of the militants were killed in the retaliatory fire.
The militia was set up to fight a local group known as Lashkar-e-Islam, the tribal official said. Insurgents often target the militias, which they perceive as government supporters.
The militia fighting Lashkar-e-Islam is composed of local tribesmen frustrated with the growth of Taliban-style groups in their territory.