25 dead in suicide attack in NW Pakistan

A government official says the death toll in a suicide car bombing in Pakistan8217;s northwest has reached 25.

Area mayor Syed Mehtabul Hassan says several others were also wounded Friday when the bomber detonated his vehicle near a hotel in Kohat town in what might be a sectarian attack.

He said that 25 bodies have been pulled out of the rubble of the hotel and nearby shops.

Pakistan8217;s northwest is riddled with Taliban and al-Qaida militants,whose presence has added fuel to longstanding Sunni-Shiite tensions among Pakistani Muslims.