A suicide attack has killed at least seven people, including the bomber, less than a kilometer from Pervez Musharraf's army headquarters in Rawalpindi, police say.

Three policemen and three passers-by were among those killed, while 11 people were wounded in Tuesday's blast, Saud Aziz, the city police chief, said.

The policemen were manning a checkpoint on a road leading to the army headquarters.

"Our policeman challenged the attacker who exploded himself near their picket," Aziz said.

"The police were the target."

Tariq Azim Khan, deputy information minister, said General Musharraf was safely in his office some 2km away at the time of the blast.

A Reuters journalist saw body parts on the road near a perimeter wall of the residence of the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Tariq Majid.

Earlier, Al Jazeera's correspondent Nadim Baba, speaking from Islamabad, described the blast as very powerful and said two of the dead were policemen.

Previous attempts

Musharraf has survived at least three assassination attempts - two in December 2003, and one in July as his aircraft took off from Rawalpindi's airport.

Suicide and roadside bomb attacks on security forces have multiplied since commandos stormed Red Mosque in the capital, Islamabad, in July to crush a Taliban-style movement.

More than 100 people were killed in the fighting.

The security situation in the country has continued to deteriorate, and scores of people have been killed in fighting between security forces and anti-government fighters in the scenic valley of Swat in North West Frontier Province during the past few days.

The worsening security comes at a time of intense political uncertainty in Pakistan.

An attack by possibly two suicide bombers killed 139 people at a procession in the southern city of Karachi to welcome the return of Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister, from self-imposed exile on October 18.

PHOTO CAPTION

Map of Pakistan

Al-Jazeera