A suicide bomber wearing a burqa, who some officials said was a woman, killed at least 43 people at a World Food Programme distribution point in a tribal area bordering Afghanistan on Saturday.
The blast occurred in Khar, the main town of lawless Bajaur tribal district, once a stronghold of Taliban militants who have carried out several bombings and suicide attacks in the area.
Most of the victims belonged to the local Salarzai tribe which supported military action against the militants and formed a militia to force them from Bajaur.
"At least 43 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in the suicide bombing," top tribal administration official Zakir Hussain said.
Separately, 40 militants were killed in Mohmand, another lawless tribal district, in a series of military raids, officials said.
US President Barack Obama condemned the Khar incident as an "outrageous terrorist attack" and said the United States stood with the people of Pakistan.
"Killing innocent civilians outside a World Food Program distribution point is an affront to the people of Pakistan, and to all humanity," he added.
There were conflicting reports about the identity of the bomber in Khar, with some officials saying the attacker was a woman, while others claimed a man disguised in a burqa was responsible.
The bomber was intercepted at a checkpoint outside the ration distribution centre and the blast occurred during a search, Sohail Khan said.
The deputy administrator of Khar, Tariq Khan, said that the bombing was carried out by a woman.
Tribal police officials also said the attacker was a woman, who resisted being searched and hurled a hand grenade at security guards at the checkpoint before triggering her bomb.
"I was waiting to be searched in a queue at the checkpoint outside the ration point and heard a grenade explosion. People started running in panic and then a huge blast occurred," tribesman Mushtaq Khan said in hospital.
Khan, who suffered injuries to his arm, said he saw many people lying on the ground in pools of blood amid a cloud of dust and smoke.
Salarzai tribespeople had set up a vigilante force to evict militants from their area, but officials declined to comment when asked if they were the bomber's intended target.
A spokesman for Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the bombing.
"We carried out the suicide attack in Khar because these people had made a lashkar (tribal vigilante force) against us," Azam Tariq said in a telephone call.
Bajaur is one of seven Pakistani tribal districts, which the United States considers the global headquarters of al Qa'eda and among the most dangerous places on Earth.
Security officials said they had been warned that two suicide bombers had entered Bajaur and would carry out attacks on December 22, but had changed their plans.
The local administration imposed an indefinite curfew in Khar while security forces patrolled streets and launched a search, officials said.
Doctor Mohammad Hafeez, head of the local state-run hospital, confirmed the death toll and said there were several women and children among the casualties.
Britain's junior foreign minister Alistair Burt condemned the "appalling attack".
In Mohmand, another tribal area, at least 40 militants were killed on Saturday when helicopter gunships pounded their hideouts, officials said.
"Since yesterday Pakistani security forces helped by helicopter gunships carried out raids on suspected militant hideouts and killed 40 militants," Mohmand's top administration official Amjad Ali Khan said.
Security forces had launched an operation in Baizai and Lakro villages following co-ordinated attacks on five checkposts on Friday in which 11 paramilitary soldiers and 24 militants were killed.
Pakistan's military first conducted operations in Bajaur in August 2008 and have repeatedly claimed to have eliminated the Islamist militant threat.
Around 4,000 people have died in suicide and bomb attacks across Pakistan since government forces raided an extremist mosque in Islamabad in 2007. The attacks have been blamed on networks linked to the Taliban and al Qa'eda.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”