A Taliban suicide bomber flattened a Pakistani police station yesterday, killing nine people in the latest brazen assault on security forces to avenge the US killing of Osama bin Laden.

The dawn truck bombing brought down the three-storey building in the military zone of the northwestern city of Peshawar, not far from the US consulate, just days after an American diplomatic convoy was attacked.

The country’s main Taliban faction claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying it was their fourth reprisal for the May 2 death of bin Laden, whose discovery and killing in Pakistan humiliated the military and government.

The Peshawar attack will likely highlight doubts about the security forces’ ability to protect not only themselves but major cities, and fuel a long-running debate about the security of the country’s nuclear weapons.

Eight policemen and a soldier died in yesterday’s explosion, a relatively low toll given the enormity of the blast. The building normally had only a skeleton staff at the time of the attack, shortly before 5 a.m.

An AFP reporter saw flames from the stricken building, shattered glass on the ground, pancaked rubble, burning tyres and the charred remains of at least three vehicles, including a small truck.

Constable Farid Khan, who had his shoulder fractured in the attack and was admitted to a hospital, told AFP that he was saying his morning prayers inside the police station when a deafening explosion took place.