A suicide bomber wearing a burqa set off explosives in the northwestern Pakistani town of Bannu on Monday killing up to 15 people, including four policemen, security officials said.

The blast was the latest in a wave of attacks, most in the northwest of the country near the border with Afghanistan, blamed on Islamist militants based in tribal areas on the Afghan border.

Military spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad said 11 civilians and four policemen had been killed in the suicide blast in the town, which is in the North West Frontier Province. An Interior Ministry spokesman said 11 people — four of them policemen — had been killed.

“A burqa-clad bomber — either it was a woman or a man in a burqa — set off explosives when police approached,” said ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema. A police official said the blast went off near a bus stand and 19 people were also wounded.

Hundreds of people have been killed in militant attacks since July, when a pact with militants in one border area collapsed and commandos stormed a radical mosque in the capital, Islamabad.

Marching order

Meanwhile, Pakistan government suspended the city police chief and two other officials, on Monday, on a Supreme Court order following a violent crackdown during protests against President Pervez Musharraf, as lawyers boycotted courts across the country condemning the police action, PTI adds.

Chief Justice Iftikhar M Chaudhry, who took suo motu cognisance of Saturday’s police action that left dozens of lawyers and mediapersons injured, directed immediate action against those responsible for the incident.

“This is a very serious matter. The civil administration is not doing any service to the people,” said Chaudhry, who became a rallying point for anti-Musharraf forces after he was suspended by the General in March.

When Interior Secretary Kamal Shah, who was summoned by the Chief Justice, told the special hearing on violence that a high-powered committee has been constituted to probe the incidents, Chaudhry said Islamabad Inspector General Marwah Shah “should be suspended and arrested as he is responsible for whatever happened”.

Immediate action

Asking the Interior Secretary to register the cases, suspend and arrest the Chief Commissioner of Islamabad and Senior Superintendent Police, Chaudhry remarked that the committees had been formed in the past but he wanted immediate action.

The Interior Ministry, later, issued the suspension orders for Inspector General of Police Islamabad Syed Murrawat Ali Shah, Deputy Commissioner Chaudhry Muhamamd Ali and Senior Superintendent Police Naeem Khan.

Chaudhry was told that over 80 people were wounded as the police used batons and tear gas to disperse the protesters opposing Musharraf’s re-election bid. The lawyers and journalists recorded their statements and TV channels presented a footage of the police action in the court.

Saturday’s clashes had erupted outside the Election Commission premises as the body approved Musharraf’s candidature for the October six presidential election. Journalists in Pakistan had observed ‘Black Day’, on Sunday, to protest police “brutality”.

The surge of violence comes as army chief and president Pervez Musharraf is preparing to try to win another term in the October 6 presidential election. Many Pakistanis disapprove of Musharraf’s staunch support for the US-led war on terrorism.