Twenty-two people, most of them security personnel, were killed and over 25 others injured when a suicide bomber targeted a check post near the Afghan border in Pakistan’s restive Khyber tribal region on Thursday.

The attacker struck when a large number of personnel from the Khasadar force, a tribal militia, had gathered for ‘iftar’, the meal for breaking the daily fast during the holy month of Ramzan.

An injured Khasadar told reporters at Landikotal, a key town in the Khyber Agency, that over 30 security personnel were preparing for iftar when a teenaged youth entered the yard with several bottles of soft drinks and water that he said he wanted to share with them.

The youth then lobbed a grenade at the Khasadar personnel before blowing himself up. Officials said 20 Khasadars belonging to the Zakhakhel tribe were killed instantly while 27 others were injured.

Five seriously injured persons were taken to a hospital in Peshawar, the capital of the North West Frontier Province.

The Abdullah Azam Shaheed Brigade, a militant group linked to the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack.

The group had earlier claimed responsibility for the suicide car bombing of the Pearl Continental luxury hotel in Peshawar in June.

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