Heavy Rain/Landslides in northwest Pakistan kill 24*

GILGIT, Pakistan, July 8 (AFP) Jul 08, 2007

Landslides triggered by heavy rain struck two villages in northwestern
Pakistan on Sunday, killing 24 people including 13 members of the same
family, officials said.

Another 15 people were injured when the slides swept away mud-brick
houses in the mountainous Pattan district of North West Frontier
Province, local official Saifur Rehman said.

"We have recovered 23 bodies including those of women and children,
while efforts are underway to retrieve a body which is stuck in the
mud," Saifur said.

Pakistan has suffered a wave of extreme weather in the past month.

Floods unleashed by a tropical cyclone and torrential monsoon rain in
the south and southwest of the country claimed more than 200 lives and
affected 1.65 million people.

Around another 40 were killed in accidents caused by monsoon rains along
Pakistan's rugged northwestern border with Afghanistan.