Islamabad - Pakistani officials said on Saturday said the death toll from a suicide attack during a gathering of tribal elders in north-west part of the country a day earlier has risen to more than 60.

The suspected suicide bombing rocked the assembly of a jirga, or tribal council, of more than 1,000 members of the Alikhel tribe in Khadezai village of Orakzai district. The meeting had about the issue of raising a traditional army, or lashkar, against Taliban militants operating in the area.

"We are collecting information from various hospitals where the dead and injured were moved and from the locals who took the bodies without registering them with the authorities. So far over 60 people have been confirmed dead," said a local security official who was compiling the losses.

Around 40 people were killed on the spot and 20, or even more, died when they were being transferred to the several nearby hospitals or during treatment there, he added.

Mohammad Farooq, a journalist from Hangu, a district in North West Frontier Province that neighbours the mountainous tribal region of Orakzai, said he feared the death toll might rise over 100.

"By talking to various health and security officials on the phone and in person, I have so far confirmed 92 deaths," he said.

Orakzai Agency, unlike other tribal districts that serve as a safe haven for al-Qaeda and Taliban militants launching cross-border attacks on US-led international forces in Afghanistan, does not border Afghanistan directly and therefore has been relatively peaceful.

But for almost six months, the influence of the Taliban has been increasing in the area and militants have launched attacks on security forces, which force tribesmen to raise lashkars against the militants or face aerial strikes and resultant collateral damage.

"The authorities had warned the elders of Alikhel tribe that if they do not stop Taliban activities in their area then the military would start aerial attacks in the region and that is why they were compelled to assemble a jirga," said a chieftain Malik Zalman Shah from another Malakhel tribe.

The jirga fined 200,000 rupees (around 2,500 dollars) to four local Taliban, which they accepted but said they did not have resources to pay that.

"According to the information we are getting from our brothers in Alikhel tribe there are two opinions about the nature of the attack," Shah added.

Some say a vehicle, a white four-wheel drive parked near the assembly place, was exploded with a remote control device, while the others say a young man drove it into the crowd and then blew up.

Shah condemned the attack, but said the President Asif Ali Zardari should be held responsible for the carnage because of his policies regarding tribal areas.

"He is an American puppet and that is why he is trying to divide the tribesmen," he added, vowing that his tribe would not follow the government's dictates.

Pressed by Washington, Islamabad has recently launched offensives in some districts of the largely ungoverned tribal belt against the Islamic insurgents. The actions have triggered a renewed campaign of suicide bombings by suspected Taliban militants across the country. (dpa)