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Blast hits Pakistani checkpoint Blast hits Pakistani checkpoint
(40 minutes later)
A suicide bomber has killed at least 16 other people in an attack on a checkpoint in north-west Pakistan, officials say. A suicide bomber has killed at least 16 other people at a checkpoint in a market in north-west Pakistan.
At least 20 people were also injured when the bomber attacked the checkpoint in Khar, the main town in the troubled Bajaur tribal region. More than 20 people were also injured when the bomber, on foot, detonated at a bazaar in Khar, the main town in the troubled Bajaur tribal region.
Pakistani security forces have been battling militants in the Khar area. Only last year, Pakistan's military declared victory over militants in the district, following a ground offensive.
Government officials said on Friday that at least 24 suspected militants had been killed in the fighting. Meanwhile, nine militants died in a US drone air strike in North Waziristan, local officials said.
"It looks like a suicide attack," regional police official Fazl-e-Rabi told Reuters news agency. In Saturday's suicide blast, the bomber is said to have been heading for government buildings and military barracks when he was stopped by soldiers.
He added that at least seven of the dead appeared to have been passersby. Body search
Initial reports suggested the attacker was in a vehicle. A local official later told AFP news agency the bomber had been wearing a suicide belt. The troops were carrying out a body search when the attacker detonated an explosives-packed vest, Iqbal Khattak, a government official, told AFP news agency.
The army mounted a major offensive against Taliban militants in Bajaur in August 2008, ending in a truce early last year. "The death toll has gone up to 16, including two paramilitary soldiers," Mr Khattak said.
Several vehicles and four shops were destroyed in the bombing, he added.
The suicide attack came a day after Pakistani security forces killed at least 24 suspected militants in air strikes and clashes in Bajaur.
In February 2009, the army said Bajaur had been cleared of Taliban militants following a military operation launched in August the previous year. But recently the security situation has been deteriorating.
The BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Islamabad says numerous attacks over the last six months show the militants still maintain a significant presence in the area.
Close to the Afghan border, Bajaur has long been suspected of being the hiding-place of Osama Bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and other top al-Qaeda leaders.Close to the Afghan border, Bajaur has long been suspected of being the hiding-place of Osama Bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and other top al-Qaeda leaders.
Pakistan's military has been focusing on a major offensive, launched in October, nearby throughout the Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan.
But some analysts say that military operation has simply displaced militants to other parts of the tribal belt.