Suicide bomber kills at least ten in northwest Pakistan

A suicide bomber blew himself up close to a police checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least ten people and wounding more than 20, officials said.

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Peshawar: A suicide bomber blew himself up close to a police checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least ten people and wounding more than 20, officials said.

The bomber rammed his motorcycle into the roadside checkpoint in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, local government official Munir Khan told Reuters.

"He was riding an explosives-laden motorcycle and hit the checkpoint and the vehicle of the line officer," Khan said.

Two government officials said ten police officers were killed in the blast including the line officer whose vehicle was targeted. A spokesperson at the Hayatabad Medical Complex in the city of Peshawar said the hospital had received ten bodies, including that of a child.

The attack took place in an area where security forces are fighting the Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups near the border with Afghanistan, the two officials said.