Police killed in Pakistan suicide blast
A suicide car bombing at a police station in north-western Pakistan killed at least six officers today, security officials said.
The incident is the latest in a string of attacks claimed by Taliban militants.
Meanwhile, a bomb rigged to bicycle went off near a vehicle carrying a senior police investigator in the southern city of Karachi, wounding four people, said Wasim Ahmad, the city's police chief.
The investigator, Raja Umar Khatab, who has played key role in arresting many militants in recent years, was among those hurt, he said.
The attacks underscore the many challenges ahead for the two main parties in Pakistan's ruling coalition - traditional rivals who united to force Pervez Musharraf from power less than one week ago.
Though the five-month-old government initially sought to tame militants in peace negotiations, it has in recent weeks become entangled in increased fighting with hard-line Islamic movements along its border.
That was hammered home two days ago, when Taliban militants carried out one of Pakistan's deadliest-ever terrorist attacks - twin suicide bombings that killed 67 people at the country's biggest weapons manufacturing complex.
Today's attack in Swat, where Islamic militants have been battling security forces to pressure the government to enforce Taliban-style religious laws, killed six and wounded several others, said local police official Mohib Ullahn.
A Taliban spokesman, Muslim Khan, immediately claimed responsibility and vowed more bombings if the government did not halt army operations in the area, once a popular tourist destination.
"We had warned the government to target police and the army if it didn't stop operations against us in Swat," he said. "The government ignored and continued attacking our position."
A civilian was also killed and three others were wounded in the Bari Kot village in Swat today when a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle, Khan said.
Pakistan is a key ally of the US in its war on terrorism and has been fighting militants in the country's tribal regions near the Afghan border since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US
But the violence has spread to Swat and some other more-populated areas in recent years.
Later Pakistan's military said it killed 37 militants in intense fighting with pro-Taliban militants in clashes in the Swat valley.
Army spokesman Major Nasir Ali said two soldiers also died in the fighting.
Ali said troops backed by helicopter gunships were still "targeting militants" in various parts of Swat, a region that has become a battleground between government troops and Islamic insurgents.
