Pakistan aid suspended after suicide blast

(REUTERS)

Authorities have temporarily closed food distribution centres in north-west Pakistan, it is thought as a direct result of the weekend's incident where a female suicide bomber killed 45 people and wounded scores more outside a World Food Programme depot.

Shafiq Khan, a WFP official, said the regional government ordered the temporary closure of all four food relief centres in the Bajaur district following Saturday's bombing in the area's main town of Khar.

The WFP project in Bajaur feeds thousands of people displaced since early 2009 by fighting between the military and insurgents.

The attacker, who was wearing a burka, threw two hand grenades before detonating an explosive belt on her body among a crowd of about 300 people.