Blast hits Pakistan border town
07/05/2008| IslamWeb
Five people have been killed and four others wounded after a suspected suicide bomber targeted a police checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan, according to police.
The bomber, who was travelling in an auto-rickshaw taxi, blew himself up as it stopped near the police post in Bannu, a town in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).
Civilians and a soldier were among the victims of the attack, a military official said on Tuesday.
The attack follows signs that peace talks initiated by the country's new federal government with leaders of the Pakistani Taliban have hit a snag.
The fighters are demanding that the Pakistan army withdraw from their strongholds along the Afghan border.
Pakistan saw a wave of suicide bomb attacks after an army assault on the Lal (Red) Mosque in the capital Islamabad last July.
However, there had been a lull since the formation of the new government in March.
The government, led by the party of Benazir Bhutto, the assassinated former prime minister, has begun talks with elders of ethnic Pashtun tribes along the Afghan border.
A leader of the Pakistani Taliban announced a ceasefire last month but later said they were rejecting negotiations mediated by the elders after the government refused to withdraw troops from their stronghold areas.
Policemen examine the site of a suicide attack in Bannu, near Peshawar May 6, 2008.
Al-Jazeera