Suicide bombing kills at least 8 people in Pakistan

A suicide bomber detonated at a checkpoint in western Pakistan, killing eight people and wounding five more, officials have said.

The suicide bomber set off the blast from the back of a motorbike rickshaw near the town of Mir Ali in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, a local police officer told AFP on Saturday, on condition of anonymity.

Four police officers were killed alongside two members of a state paramilitary force and two civilians in the attack near the border with Afghanistan, he said.

"Among the five injured personnel, the condition of three is critical, and they have been trans ferred to a local military hospital," he added.

A local government official who also did not want to be named confirmed the same toll of dead and wounded.