Pakistan telephone exchange blast

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Suspected militants have blown up a 300-line digital telephone exchange in Pakistan's north-western tribal region of Khyber, officials say.

Unknown men planted explosives around the building in Baz Garhai area of Bara subdivision on Sunday night.

The explosion destroyed most parts of the building, a local official said.

Government installations have been increasingly targeted in the region since the army launched an operation against a local group, Lashkar-e-Islam.

School buildings have been the main target of these attacks, reports the BBC Urdu service's Abdul Hai Kakar.

Officials say about eight school buildings have been blown up in the Bara and Landikotal sub-divisions of Khyber in the last two months.

Khyber has been the battlefield of two rival armed Islamic groups, Lashkar-e-Islam and Ansarul Islam, for the last few years.

Hundreds of people have died in clashes between the two groups, both of which have been banned by the government.

Ansarul Islam has since re-named itself as the Peace Committee and local people say its fighters are supported by government forces.

They say that government helicopters have been helping the Peace Committee fighters during their clashes with Lashkar-e-Islam.