Suicide blast at Pakistan army camp

Soldiers killed in attack near Afghan border as US vice-president visits Kabul.

Dick Cheney Hamid Karzi
The bombing comes as Dick Cheney meets Hamid Karzai in the Afghan capital [AFP]
“An army truck, some cars and soldiers were stationed at the gate of the camp and the bomber rammed his vehicle into them and blew himself up,” the official said.
 
An army spokesman said officials were investigating a blast which targeted troops in Wana but did not have full details.
 
The attack came as Dick Cheney, the US vice president, made a surprise visit to Kabul to meet with Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president.
 
Cheney visit
 
During the visit Cheney said he expected the new Pakistan government to be a “good and effective” US ally in dealing with fighters along the border.
 
Pakistan’s lawless tribal regions have been wracked by violence since hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters fled there after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.
 
Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president, has pushed 90,000 troops into the region but the unrest has spread across the country.
 
More than 50 suicide attacks took place across the country in 2007 and this year alone there have been at least 20.
 
Two police officers were killed and six injured after a suicide bomber blew himself up at a police barracks in Pakistan’s northern Swat valley on Monday.
 
In the capital Islamabad on Saturday, a bomb exploded at an Italian restaurant frequented by foreigners, killing a Turkish woman and wounding around 10 other people including four US FBI agents.
 
Last week 27 people were killed and 200 wounded when two suicide truck bombs exploded in the eastern city of Lahore, one of them targeting a federal investigation agency.
Source: News Agencies