A Taliban attack in the Shangla district of north-west Pakistan has left 41 people dead and at least 45 injured. The suicide car bomb exploded in a marketplace in the town of Alpurai. Six security personnel are thought to be among the dead.
The strike follows a siege of Pakistan's main military base at Rawalpindi over the weekend.
Shangla lies to the east of the Swat valley. In June Pakistan declared its military offensive against the Taliban in Swat a success. However it is thought that many of the insurgents may have migrated from the valley into its neighbouring provinces.
Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq told the Associated Press that the bombing was just the first in a series of planned attacks. They are planned in retaliation for a US drone attack that killed Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in August, he said.
"This was our first small effort and a present to the Pakistani and American governments." He also said the Rawalpindi siege was only the first in a series of raids ordered on Pakistan's military bases by Taliban's central command.
After a relative lull in activity in September the Taliban offensive has been gaining momentum since the beginning of this month. The group still maintains a stronghold in the South Waziristan region by the Afghan border.
In the wake of the latest attack Tariq has warned Pakistan against launching an offensive on South Waziristan where Pakistani troops have been gathering along the border for the past few months.
