Twenty one killed in Pakistan blast

Officials in NWFP said the toll could rise while some unconfirmed reports said that 30 people had died in the attack, suspected to have been carried out by a suicide bomber.

The truck was taking 31 Frontier Constabulary men and arms and ammunition from the police lines in Mingora to Barikot.

The explosion damaged several shops and vehicles and set the truck on fire. The initial blast was followed by a series of explosions as the ammunition in the truck went off, officials said.

The injured were rushed to nearby hospitals and several of them were said to be in critical condition.

The attack came a day after thousands of troops were deployed in the Swat valley to counter the activities of pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlullah and his Shaheen Commando Force.

NWFP Home Secretary Badshah Gul Wazir said the troops were called in to reassert the writ of the local administration in about 59 villages where Fazlullah’s armed men are running a parallel government.

Fazlullah, who has gone underground, had told a larger gathering of his followers on Wednesday that he and his men would oppose any military operation in the area.

“This will not be like (the military operation against) the Lal Masjid, where there were only some students. My men and I will go to the mountains to continue our fight,” the cleric known as ‘Mullah Radio’ for his fiery FM radio broadcasts told a TV channel.