Blast kills 36 in Peshawar, Pakistan

Peshawar: A suicide bomber attacked a funeral procession in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Wednesday, killing at least 36 people and wounding more than 50, DawnNews quoted Senior Minister Bashir Bilour, as saying.
The Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack, a report by AP said.
Funerals in Matani area of the city was for a relative of the pro-government and ethnic Pashtun tribal elder, DCO Peshawar Siraj Ahmed told Reuters.
An attacker who mingled with the funeral, before heading to his explosives, said Ahmed.
As in other parts of the Northwest, Matani is home to several tribal armies that fight against the Taliban and receive state support.
Militants frequently target police.
Pashtun elder, the relative was buried on Wednesday was associated with pro-government militia force. It was not immediately clear if he was killed or wounded in the explosion.
"People got together and just started praying, when the boy came in and blew himself up," survivor Mohammed Eman told private television channel.
Bloodied caps and shoes littered the ground where the attack occurred on the outskirts of the city, as stunned survivors milled around or bundled the wounded into cars and away to the hospital, television images showed.
The Taliban claimed responsibility
The Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack.
Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan said the rebels targeted policemen, because they were allied with the Pakistani government and, in fact, the United States.
"We will carry out more such attacks if they did not cease their activities," he said by telephone from an unknown direction.
The attack occurred a day after militants set off a car-bomb at the gas stations in the central city of Faisalabad, killing at least 25 people and injured about 125.
The Pakistani Taliban are fighting to overthrow the government took over responsibility for the attack.
Pakistan saw a wave of bombs in the past three years, many in the northwest near the border with Afghanistan, where the military is fighting al-Qaeda Pakistani Taliban.
The army said that some military action weakened the militants, but attacks are still common.