Taliban attack kills three police in Pakistan: official

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) - A suicide bomber and Taliban militants attacked a security checkpost in restive northwest Pakistan late Tuesday killing three soldiers, a senior official said.
The bomber blew himself up as paramilitary soldiers approached his vehicle, before the militants attacked the checkpost in Swat valley in the North West Frontier Province, army spokesman Major Murad Khan said.
"The security forces intercepted a vehicle which was driving towards the post and the suicide bomber blew himself up in the car," Khan told AFP.
"Soon a group of militants tried to enter the post by firing on soldiers, but security forces managed to repulse their attack and three soldiers were martyred and six wounded," he said of the attack in the Tattano Bandy area.
Swat valley, a former popular tourist destination, has seen numerous clashes and bombings since radical pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlullah launched a violent campaign to enforce harsh Islamic Sharia law in the region last year.
The province is not far from Pakistan's rugged tribal areas on the Afghan border, where the army is battling Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants, many of whom fled there after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.

Washington says Pakistan's mountainous tribal regions have become a safe haven for Islamic fighters waging an insurgency against international troops based across the border.
Tuesday's attack came as US chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, arrived in Pakistan on an unannounced visit to discuss operations underway on the Afghanistan frontier with Pakistan's leaders, the Pentagon said.
The visit also comes against a backdrop of tension between the two allies. Islamabad has vowed to defend itself against violations of its air space and incursions by US forces in Afghanistan, after a series of missile strikes blamed on US-led coalition forces left 38 people dead in Pakistan.
The Pentagon on Monday denied that US-led coalition helicopters based in Afghanistan were fired on in Pakistan this week and forced to turn back.
But the increasingly frequent missile attacks, for which the United States has not claimed responsibility, are straining Pakistan's relationship with Washington, particularly because of concerns of civilian deaths.
Such deaths have stirred local anger and embarrassed the Pakistani government, already struggling to tackle the militancy that has seen 1,200 of its own people die in bombings and suicide attacks in the past year alone.
New President Asif Ali Zardari has pledged to combat the Islamic militancy.