ISLAMABAD, 2 October 2007 — At least 16 people, including four policemen, were killed and more than 29 injured yesterday when a burqa-clad suicide bomber blew himself up in suburbs of Bannu in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan, official sources said.

The blast happened on the outskirts of Bannu, a key garrison town near Pakistan’s troubled tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, where the army is battling Al-Qaeda and Taleban militants.

It was the latest in a string of deadly attacks in Pakistan since government troops stormed the Al-Qaeda-linked Red Mosque in Islamabad in July, and comes days before President Pervez Musharraf seeks re-election.

“A man disguised in a burqa got out of an auto rickshaw when police stopped the vehicle for a search at a checkpoint. He then blew himself up,” police officer Asar Islam said.

Examination of remains “confirmed that it was a male suicide bomber” wearing women’s clothing, while initial reports of a possible female attacker had been discounted, Bannu police chief Ameer Hamza Mahsud said.

A doctor at the local hospital, Mohammad Usman, also confirmed that the attacker was a man. Police sources said they had earlier received intelligence that male suicide bombers dressed in all-covering burqas would soon launch attacks.

They had beefed up security at all checkpoints and the vehicle carrying the bomber was intercepted as a result, but the attacker blew himself up before they could check it, one source said.

Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Javed Cheema said 16 people were killed and 29 were wounded and authorities were still investigating the blast. Officials said four policemen and four women were among those killed.

Chief military spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad confirmed that it was a suicide blast but dismissed earlier witness reports that the bombing targeted a military convoy passing through the town.

Also yesterday in Bannu more than 20 Pakistan troops went missing, feared kidnapped by militants after a gunfight.

Abdul Nawaz Khan, district officer of the Bannu Frontier Force, said more than 100 militants had surrounded a post and fired rockets and mortar shells. Communication with the troops had then been lost.

In a separate incident militants shot dead a paramilitary soldier before dawn in North Waziristan, the most conflict-hit of Pakistan’s tribal zones, security officials said. The rebels raided a check post in the border town of Datta Khel and fled in darkness after shooting the trooper, apparently using a gun fitted with a silencer, one official said.

Nearly 300 people have died in attacks in Pakistan blamed on militants, since the Red Mosque raid. Most of the attacks have targeted the security forces.

The mosque standoff also coincided with the breakdown of a controversial peace deal between the government and Islamic militants in the tribal belt.

Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden called on people to wage holy war against the government of key US ally Musharraf and his armed forces in a new audio message issued less than two weeks ago.

Musharraf has been under mounting pressure from Washington to tackle militants, especially in the tribal border zones, where US officials have said that Al-Qaeda is regrouping to launch attacks on Western targets.

The president, whose popularity has slumped in recent months, is aiming for re-election for another five-year term in a parliamentary vote on Saturday.