A suicide car bombing that killed at least 96 people on a volleyball field sent a bloody New Year's warning to residents trying to curb spreading Taliban militancy in Pakistan's northwestern region near the Afghan border.

The attack on the outskirts of Lakki Marwat city was one of the deadliest in recent Pakistani history.

The suicide bomber detonated some 250 kg of high-intensity explosives on the crowded field during a volleyball tournament Jan. 1 near a meeting of anti-Taliban elders. The elders were probably the actual target, police said.

The Lakki Marwat district is near South Waziristan, a tribal region where the army has been battling the Pakistani Taliban since October.