Bomb attack on Pakistani police kills 11

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A car bomb blew up as a Pakistani police bus traveled across a bridge in the country's northwest on Thursday, killing 11 people, police said.

The attack happened near Bannu town in North West Frontier Province, near the border with Afghanistan, where Islamist militants have been attacking security forces regularly.

"The vehicle was going to pick up prisoners and as it reached a bridge an explosive-laden car exploded and nine of our policemen and two passers-by were killed," said deputy district police chief Masood Afridi.

Police initially said a suspected suicide bomber had rammed his vehicle into the bus, which had been carrying prisoners, but Afridi said the bomb was set off by remote control.

A doctor at Bannu's hospital said 12 wounded people had been brought in for treatment.

(Reporting by Kamran Haider and Augustine Anthony; Editing by Robert Birsel and Jerry Norton)