American Marconi Wireless News - Suicide attack kills 13 during protest in northern Pakistan: police

The blast took place at a crowded intersection near a police station in Swat during a civil society protest, police said.

"Thirteen people, including eight police officers, were killed in the suicide bombing," Swat Deputy Inspector General of Police Fida Hussain told AFP.

He added that 22 people had been wounded and another body, suspected to be that of the bomber, had been brought to hospital.

"A suicide bomber attempted to enter the police station located at the chowk (intersection), but was stopped by police at the main gate," he said.

The attack took place in Pakistan's northern border province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where authorities are fighting a growing insurgency by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

No group immediately claimed responsibility.

A homemade bomb blast in the provincial capital Peshawar wounded four police officers, the city's police chief told AFP on Sunday in an attack claimed by the TTP.

A military spokesman said on Friday that militant attacks and ensuing operations had killed 819 security personnel and civilians this year.

Pakistan has previously blamed the violence in border provinces on militant activity emanating from Afghanistan. The Taliban government in Kabul denies Afghan involvement.

The accusations have sparked a bitter rift and even armed conflict between the neighbouring countries. Pakistan has carried out deadly air strikes it says target militants on Afghan soil.

The Taliban government and the United Nations said dozens of civilians were killed in the latest Pakistani strikes on eastern Afghanistan in June.

L.Miller--AMWN