Suicide car bomber kills six in Pakistan - military

Six people were killed and three wounded yesterday when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden car near a security checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan, officials said.

The attack hit the outskirts of Darra Adam Khel, a town about 25 kilometres south of Peshawar, the capital of the North West Frontier Province, where security forces are locked in heavy fighting with Taliban further north.

"One security personnel and five civilians were killed while three were wounded when a suicide bomber exploded his car near a security checkpost," said a military official in the region who did not want to be named.

The bomb site and a nearby tunnel have been sealed off, while the injured were rushed to hospital, he added.

A local administrative official confirmed the attack. No one claimed responsibility for the blast, but Pakistan security forces are a frequent bombing target for Islamist militants.

Meanwhile, at least 360,000 people have fled heavy fighting in northwest Pakistan in little over a week and registered with authorities, officials said yesterday.

A spokesman for UN refugee agency UNHCR said: "360,600 individuals registered in camps and outside camps as part of a new influx from Swat, Buner and Lower Dir" since May 2.

Government air and ground forces launched a military offensive against Taliban fighters in the district of Lower Dir on April 26 and in neighbouring Buner on April 28.

Heavy clashes broke out in Swat, another neighbouring northwest district, between security forces and Taliban militants on May 6.

On May 8, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the military had been ordered to eliminate militants, which prompted a further civilian exodus.

Ariane Rummery, the UNHCR spokesman, said the provincial government in North West Frontier Province, with the help of UNHCR, had set up 29 registration points for the displaced, mostly in the towns of Mardan and Swabi.

"Less than 20 per cent are staying in camps, while 80 per cent are staying outside camps," Ms Rummery said.

A local Pakistani government official working at the emergency response unit in Peshawar, the capital of NWFP, said half a million had fled "since the offensives" but was not able to provide a clear date.

Pakistani security forces have conducted operations against militants in parts of NWFP over the past two years, on top of six years of battles in the surrounding semi-autonomous tribal belt on the border with Afghanistan.