Suicide bomber kills 4 near Peshawar air base

DAMAGE CAUSED: Local residents examine the damage at the site of a car bombing near Peshawar, Pakistan.

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Peshawar (Pakistan): A suicide car-bomber killed at least four people on Monday near a Pakistan air force base close to the northwestern city of Peshawar and the Afghan border, a government official said.

The city has been targeted several times since the army began an offensive against the Taliban in South Waziristan last month and terrorists stepped up retaliatory attacks. Hundreds of people have been killed.

"Four people have been killed and 24 wounded but the toll could rise," senior city administrator Sahibzada Anis told Reuters.

The attacker had targeted a police station outside the Badaber air base on the city's outskirts. The blast badly damaged the police station, a mosque and a shop.

A witness said a yellow car slammed into the wall of the police station.

The army went on the offensive in South Waziristan on the Afghan border on October 17, aiming to root out Pakistani Taliban militants who stepped up their war on security forces in 2007.

The terrorists have responded with intensified attacks in towns and cities across the country.

The United States, weighing options as it struggles to stabilise Afghanistan, says Pakistani action against terrorists in border enclaves is vital for its Afghan effort.

The violence in recent weeks has rattled investors and the main stock index has lost about five per cent since the offensive began.

However, it ended 1.60 per cent higher at 9,067.17 on Friday after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the previous day the economy showed signs of recovery but risks remained.

Pakistan Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin told Reuters the IMF had expressed concern about how insecurity could affect the economy.

Separately, suspected Taliban gunmen shot dead a pro-government ethnic Pashtun tribal elder in the Bajaur region, north of Peshawar, a government official in the region said.

Terroists have killed hundreds of pro-government tribal leaders over recent years.