Five Dead In Pakistan After Attacks

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A suicide bomber riding a rickshaw attacked a police checkpoint and gunmen fired on officers guarding a bank in Pakistan's northwest yesterday, killing five people and testing the new government's fledgling peace process.

Police said the suicide attacker rode up to the checkpoint on a bridge in the garrison town of Bannu. He detonated his explosives when officers signaled him to stop, the Bannu district police chief, Dar Ali, said.

The army said two civilians and one policeman were killed. Police said four of their officers were wounded.

There was no claim of responsibility, and it was not clear whether police had prevented an attack on a different target.

Another police official in Bannu, Aurangzeb Khan, said the checkpoint was near the office of a "sensitive institution."

Bannu is also a hub for the tens of thousands of Pakistani troops deployed in the border region as part of the American-led war against terrorism.