Death toll from Pakistan academy bombing at 69 - police

13/05/2011 - 3:18

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The death toll from a suicide bombing at a northwest Pakistan paramilitary force academy on Friday, the first major attack by suspected militants since Osama bin Laden was killed in the country on May 2, has climbed to at least 69, a police official said.

"The death toll is now 69. It was a suicide bombing," Nisar Marwat, the police chief in the town of Charsadda where the attack took place, told Reuters. Al Qaeda and its allies in Pakistan have vowed to avenge bin Laden's killing by U.S. special forces.

(Reporting by Zeeshan Haider; writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Daniel Magnowski)