Another 24 Killed in Northern Pakistan

Heavy monsoon rains lashed an already-deluged northern Pakistan before dawn Saturday, as rescuers found the bodies of another 24 people killed by the flooding inundating parts of the country, police said.

The latest fatalities in Chitral in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province brought the number of deaths blamed on the flooding this week to 42 nationwide.

Local police official Abdul Qayyum said that rescuers in the past 24 hours found the bodies of 24 people in the rubble of homes around Chitral.

He said at least 30 people have been killed in Chitral since Sunday, when flash floods hit the region, affecting some 300,000 people and destroying bridges, roads and homes.

It prompted the Pakistani government to dispatch troops there to rescue those trapped by the flooding. The army says it is using helicopters to evacuate people from remote villages.

The flooding also has killed 12 people in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province and in the country's eastern Punjab province. According to the National Disaster Management Authority, the floods in Punjab have affected about 200,000 people.

The latest spell of rains, which started on Friday, is likely to continue for another two days in Pakistan. Floods triggered by monsoon rains kill scores of people annually in the country.