Suicide attack kills nine during protest in northern Pakistan: police

A suicide bomber attacked a busy area near a police station during a protest in northern Pakistan's Swat district, killing nine people and wounding 20, police said on Sunday.

"The attacker... detonated his explosive vest, killing seven people, including four police officers," Swat's Deputy Inspector General of Police, Fida Hussain, told AFP.

Hussain said later the casualty toll had risen to nine dead and 20 wounded.

The blast took place at a busy intersection near a police station in Swat during a civil society protest, Hussain said, adding that seven of the wounded were in critical condition.

"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 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 militancy 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.