Suicide attack at checkpoint kills 13 in Pakistan

A suicide attacker set off a bomb at a security checkpoint in northwest Pakistan yesterday, killing 13 people and injuring 52, underscoring the relentless militant threat to the nation.

Police official Qazi Farooq said the attacker, driving a three-wheeled motorised rickshaw, detonated explosives at a roadblock manned by soldiers and police in Saidu Sharif, the administrative capital of Swat. The explosion sparked panic in the neighbourhood, as soldiers carried the victims through the streets to get them help. The dead included two soldiers and two policemen.