A suicide bomber has killed seven people at a political rally in northwest Pakistan.
Monday's attack in the Batgram district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province took place before a senior member of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q party was scheduled to speak at the gathering. The politician, Ameer Muqam, had not yet arrived at the venue.
The blast killed two police officers and five civilians, including a young girl and a woman. At least 25 people were wounded.
Also in the northwest, Pakistani intelligence officials say a suspected U.S. drone strike killed at least six alleged militants in the North Waziristan tribal region, near the Afghan border Monday.
Elsewhere in Pakistan, an explosion ripped through an army weapons depot near Islamabad, killing a soldier and wounding at least three people.
The military says the blast at the weapons depot was accidental.
In the southwest, gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on a truck carrying supplies for NATO troops in Afghanistan, killing the driver and another man. Police say the assailants also set fire to the truck. The attack took place near Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province.
The outgoing head of the International Committee of the Red Cross delegation in Pakistan said Monday that violence has intensified in the country since Osama bin Laden was killed in a U.S. raid on May 2.
Pascal Cuttat told reporters in Geneva that Red Cross medical clinics have seen more casualties since U.S. special forces killed the al-Qaida leader in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad. He says the violence has also spread to Pakistan's urban areas.
Cuttat said another effect of the U.S. raid was an increased suspicion of foreigners in the country, including aid workers. He says this suspicion has made it more difficult for foreign workers to move around Pakistan.
Pakistan criticized the U.S. military operation as a violation of its sovereignty.
Cuttat spent three years overseeing Red Cross operations in Pakistan.
He says he expects “more of the same” in terms of the amount of violence “in the immediate future.”
