'Nine dead' in Pakistan bombing

At least nine people have been killed in a suicide car bomb attack in north-west Pakistan's Swat valley, military officials have said.

The bombing took place near a security checkpoint in the town of Mingora. At least 40 people were injured.

Reports say that all of those killed were civilians.

Government forces have been fighting al-Qaeda and Taleban militants and tribesmen sympathetic to their cause in the restive region.

Separately, two people were killed in a rocket and gun attack on a terminal in Peshawar that was holding trucks ferrying supplies to Nato and US forces in Afghanistan, Associated Press reported. A dozen trucks were destroyed.

Cleric

Officials told AFP news agency the Mingora bomber was trying to approach the checkpoint after bypassing a queue but his car exploded on the way.

TV reports say there is a curfew in Mingora, the region's main town, as security forces launch a fresh search for militants.

Swat has been the scene of an insurgency since August 2007.

Hundreds of people have been killed since then in battles between security forces and militants led by Maulana Fazlullah, a cleric with links to the Pakistan Taleban movement.