5 Die in Pakistan Mosque Suicide Attack, Soldiers Killed in Southwest

A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a mosque on Friday, killing five people in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt, a Taliban and al-Qaida stronghold on the Afghan border, officials said.

Three loyalists of local militant group Lashkar-i-Islam and two other civilians were killed in Akakhel town in the Tirah valley of Khyber tribal district, administration official Bakhtiar Khan told Agence France Presse.

"A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a Lashkar-e-Islam mosque. Three members of Lashkar-e-Islam and two passers-by have been killed in the attack. Nine people have been wounded in the incident," Khan told AFP.

The attack came exactly three weeks after a similar suicide attack at another Lashkar-i-Islam mosque in Tirah killed 22 people and wounded another 20 after Friday prayers.

Khyber is a haven for militants linked to the Pakistani Taliban and has been the scene of fighting between the army and rebels, prompting at least 18,000 people to flee their homes in October last year.

A spokesman for Lashkar-e-Islam, which is linked to Islamist militants and criminal gangs, blamed Pakistan's main umbrella Taliban faction for the attack.

Also Friday, gunmen ambushed a Pakistani paramilitary checkpost, killing four soldiers and abducting four others in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, officials said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but officials blamed the attack on Taliban in Shirani district, 350 kilometers (217 miles) east of Quetta, the capital of the province that borders Afghanistan and Iran.

"Militants attacked the post in the early hours. They first surrounded the post, then ambushed it. After killing four, they took four other soldiers with them," said a senior government official in Baluchistan.

Three other soldiers were wounded, the official added.

An intelligence official confirmed the attack and blamed the Taliban.

Kidnapping for ransom and in the hope of securing prisoner swaps is routine in the most troubled parts of Pakistan.

Besides the Taliban, Baluchistan has also suffered from a separatist insurgency since rebels rose up in 2004 demanding political autonomy and a greater share of profits from the region's wealth of natural resources.

Human rights groups say thousands have been detained, killed or gone missing since government troops have tried to crush the Baluch uprising.