A suicide bomber has killed at least eight policemen and injured several others in north-western Pakistan's Musharraf 'to face impeachment' ...
Pakistani troops 'kill 25 rebels' ...
Pakistan 'school bombers' killed ...
Pakistan atom expert denies 'lies' ...
Ten Pakistani troops killed on Afghan border ... Swat Valley, police and media report.
The bomber drove a vehicle laden with explosives at a check-point in an attack claimed by an Islamic militant group, Tehrik-e-Taleban Pakistan.
The same group claimed an attack on a Pakistani munitions factory this week which killed at least 63 people.
Militant violence is a major challenge for Pakistan's new leaders.
The ruling coalition is struggling to nominate a candidate for president to replace Pervez Musharraf, who resigned on Monday after nearly a decade in power.
The biggest party, the PPP, nominated its leader, Asif Zardari, but its main coalition partner, the PML-N, is not in favour of giving him the job.
'Scattered limbs'
So powerful was the blast in Swat that it severely damaged adjacent shops and houses, Pakistani TV channel ARY OneWorld reports.
Severed limbs lay scattered at the scene, the Dubai-based private channel says.
A Tehrik-e-Taleban spokesman, Muslim Khan, told the Associated Press his group had carried out the attack.
"We had warned the government to target police and the army if it didn't stop operations against us in Swat," he said by telephone.
"The government ignored and continued attacking our position."
The spokesman vowed more attacks if the government did not halt army operations in the area, once a popular tourist destination.
Thursday's twin suicide bomb attacks on the ordnance factory in the town of Wah, near the capital Islamabad, were the deadliest attack on a military site in Pakistan's history.
On Tuesday, 32 people were killed in a suicide attack on a hospital in the northern town of Dera Ismail Khan.
Presidential race
Pakistan's president is chosen by the two chambers of the national parliament and the country's four provincial elections.
An election will be held on 6 September.
Senior PPP members reached a unanimous decision to nominate Mr Zardari on Friday.
The PPP and PML-N have been discussing ways to reduce the power of the presidency but if Mr Zardari gets the job, it is not clear if such reforms will go ahead.
He took over as PPP leader after his wife, Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated in December.
Nawaz Sharif, leader of the PML-N, prefers what he calls a consensus president.
(BBC)
<< Back
