A suicide bomber on a motorcycle rammed a Pakistan air force bus today and killed at least eight people.
The attack targeted a bus taking personnel to an air base in Sargodha in the central province of Punjab. Twenty-seven people were injured in what was the second suicide attack this week.
The attack comes as Pakistani security forces claim to have killed up to 70 Islamist militants in the latest fighting in a restive northwestern region, taking the reported death toll to more than 180 in a week of violence.
The new clashes broke out after militants launched attacks on security forces in Khawzakhela district in Swat valley early in the morning.
Militants have recently intensified a campaign to destabilise President Pervez Musharraf.
The Supreme Court is expected to rule in the next few days on whether Gen Musharraf's re-election by parliament on October 6th was legitimate. Rivals have challenged his right to have stood while still army chief.
Gen Musharraf has said he will quit the army if he gets a second five-year term, and he has allowed opposition leader Benazir Bhutto to return from self-imposed exile without fear of prosecution from corruption charges against her.