MIRANSHAH, 5 July 2007 — A suicide car bomber attacked a Pakistani military convoy in a troubled tribal region bordering Afghanistan yesterday, killing 11 people including six soldiers, security officials said. Five people were killed in two separate incidents.

The bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into the convoy near a checkpoint at Mir Ali, a town in North Waziristan region, two officials in the area said on condition of anonymity.

“The suicide bomber was blown to pieces and his car was totally destroyed” one of the officials told AFP. The targeted military vehicle was also badly damaged.

Five soldiers and four civilian bystanders were killed instantly by the blast while one civilian and one soldier died later in hospital, the official said.

Two civilians with serious shrapnel wounds were still in the hospital.

Chief Pakistani military spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad said he had so far received reports that four soldiers were killed and six injured, two critically, in an attack in Mir Ali. “It is not immediately clear what caused the blast near the military vehicle,” he said.

Officials said there was no immediate link with the pro-Taleban Red Mosque in Islamabad, which called for suicide attacks on Tuesday to avenge the “blood of martyrs.” The mosque has close ties to the tribal areas and many of its students hail from the rugged region. Insurgents continue to target government and military installations despite a peace agreement in North Waziristan last year between the authorities and pro-Taleban rebels.

In a separate incident, a policeman and four civilians were killed in attacks yesterday in a mountain region with links to the leaders of the Lal Mosque in the capital, officials said.

The civilians were killed by a bomb blast targeting a police vehicle in the conservative but normally peaceful northwestern region of Swat, local police officer Saeed Khan told AFP.

A district police chief and his driver were also wounded in the blast, Khan said, adding that it was not clear whether a grenade was thrown at the vehicle or whether a roadside bomb went off.

In yet another incident a rocket was fired into a police station, killing a constable and injuring two others, officials said.

Swat is a stronghold of a banned extremist group linked to radical leaders at the Red Mosque. The blast followed calls on a private Islamist FM radio station in the area to launch “jihad” (holy war) against government officials in retaliation for the mosque confrontation.

Benazir, Zardari Acquitted

District and Sessions Judge Mirza Rafiuz Zaman yesterday acquitted former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and her spouse Asif Ali Zardari in a case of false declaration of assets.

Benazir and Zardari were charged under the People’s Representation Act with filing false information concerning their assets.

In his ruling, the judge said that during 1994-95 the law under which Benazir and Zardari were charged never existed. Zardari’s lawyer Farooq Naik argued that all charges were false and framed to defame the former prime minister.