A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-packed vehicle into a police station in Pakistan's northwestern Swat valley Thursday, killing three policemen and wounding 15, officials said.
Suicide bombings and attacks on security forces are becoming increasingly common after the military began offensives in August against al Qaeda and Taliban fighters in the northwest, including Swat.
More than 1,100 militants have been killed in the fighting, the military says. There has been no independent confirmation of the military's casualty estimates.
The fighters have responded with suicide bomb attacks, including one at a top hotel in the capital, Islamabad, last month that killed 55 people.
In the latest bomb attack, fighters fired at least two rocket-propelled grenades at a police station in Mingora, the main town in the Swat valley, before launching a suicide car-bomb attack, said the region's police chief, Idrees Bangash.
The surge of violence in Pakistan has alarmed its Western allies, worried about the stability of their nuclear-armed ally whose support is vital in defeating al Qaeda and the Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.
Pakistan is also grappling with serious economic problems and is seeking billions of dollars in external support.
PHOTO CAPTION
Pakistani army soldiers take up positions in the troubled Swat Valley in early October.
Reuters