Suicide bomber kills eight in Pakistan

A Taliban suicide bomber killed eight people outside a key Pakistani airforce facility yesterday, with officials quick to deny suggestions the target was linked to the country's nuclear programme.

The bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body at a checkpoint outside the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex in Kamra, 75 km northwest of the capital, Islamabad.

Hours later, a car bomb exploded outside a restaurant in the northwestern city of Peshawar, wounding 15 people, two of them seriously, officials said.

The attacks were launched amid a major army offensive against Pakistani Taliban militant strongholds in South Waziristan, near the Afghan border.

The offensive has raised fears the insurgents will step up a suicide bombing campaign on urban targets. More than 150 people have been killed in a series of brazen attacks in the past few weeks.

"Eight people were killed and 13 were wounded, three of them seriously," said Shaukat Sultan, head of the main government hospital in Kamra, scene of yesterday's airbase attack.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani told a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday that the country's nuclear infrastructure was safe and faced no threat from Taliban militants.

An airforce official quickly dispelled suggestions yesterday that the Kamra facility was linked to the weapons programme.