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Two policemen killed in suicide attack in Pakistan

MINGORA, Pakistan
Mon Mar 17, 2008 2:30pm EDT
A wounded man lies on a bed at a hospital after a bomb attack in Pakistan's northwest town of Mingora March 17, 2008. REUTERS/Adil Khan

MINGORA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Two police officers were killed and three wounded in a suicide bombing in a police training centre in Pakistan's northwest on Monday, the latest in a spate of violence blamed on Islamist militants.

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The attack in the district of Swat came a day after at least nine militants were killed by missiles fired by a U.S. aircraft in the South Waziristan tribal region, a haven for al Qaeda and Taliban fighters on the Afghan border.

On Saturday, a Turkish woman and 11 people, including four U.S. FBI agents, were wounded in a bomb attack on a restaurant popular with foreigners in the capital Islamabad.

In Swat, the lone attacker, posing as a police cadet, managed to get into the centre and blew himself up amongst a group of recruits.

"The attacker dodged the guards by showing them the uniform of the cadets and exploded himself among the young cadets," Waqif Khan, a senior government official in Swat told Reuters. "The attacker and two policemen were killed," he added.

Swat, a tourist resort in the North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan, has seen a surge in violence since a radical cleric launched a violent campaign to enforce a Taliban-style Islamic code in the conservative region.

Hundreds of people have been killed in battles between the security forces and militants in the region in recent months.

At least 40 people were killed in a suicide attack at the funeral of a senior police official in the district this month.

(Writing by Zeeshan Haider)



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