Bomb hits Islamabad police base

Police evacuated an injured colleague by stretcher

A suicide bomber has killed eight paramilitary police in an attack on a security base in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, police say.

The attacker slipped into the base under cover of darkness while the police were dining and attacked a mess tent, also injuring a number of police.

Shots heard after the explosion are believed to have come from guards.

It was the second attack on security forces in Islamabad in two weeks and comes amid a rise in militant violence.

A suicide bomb attack on a police station on 23 March left one policeman dead and another injured.

The Pakistani Taleban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, claimed responsibility for that attack.

The latest attack appears to be part of a concerted campaign by militants to target security forces and destabilise the capital, the BBC's Barbara Plett reports from Islamabad.

Pakistan increasingly looks and feels like a country at war, our correspondent adds.

The government says this is a revolt against the state, while the militants say they are retaliating for US missile strikes against them in the region near the Afghan border.

Whatever the cause, the violence looks set to increase, our correspondent says.