Suicide bomber slays 4 near Pakistan air base

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - A suicide bomber killed four people Monday near an air force base close to Pakistan's 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 militants stepped up retaliatory attacks. Hundreds of people have been killed.

The attacker set off his bomb after being challenged at a checkpoint near a police station about 1 mile from the Badaber air base on the city's outskirts. The blast badly damaged the police station, a mosque and a shop.

"It was a suicide car-bomb attack. The mosque was worst damaged. The police station was also damaged," city administrator Sahibzada Anis told Reuters.

24 wounded
Four people were killed and 24 wounded, said Abdul Hameed Afridi, administrator at the Peshawar's main hospital.

The bomber was driving a small van of a type often used as a delivery vehicle and police opened fire on him when he refused to stop for a check, said Peshawar police chief Liaquat Ali Khan.

The van was coming from the direction of the Khyber ethic Pashtun tribal region where Taliban militants have been fighting security forces.

Video   Four dead in Pakistan suicide attack Nov. 16: Bomb detonates near an air force base in Pakistan. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports. msnbc.com

"We have beefed up checks at entry and exit points to and from the tribal areas and that's why these blasts are taking place at our checkpoints and our men are laying down their lives," Khan told Reuters.

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

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

Anti-Taliban mayor attacked
Separately, more than a dozen militants opened fire on the house of an anti-Taliban mayor outside Peshawar, but security guards repelled the attack, killing three of the assailants, said police official Nabi Shah.

The militants who initiated the attack against Mayor Mohammad Fahim Khan's house in Bazid Khel town, some 10 miles south of Peshawar, had disguised themselves by donning burqas, the all-encompassing garments traditionally worn by Muslim women, said Shah.

"Seeing three burqa-clad women early in the morning, Fahim Khan's security guards challenged them, and the men threw away their disguise and opened fire," Shah said. "But the guards were alert and they retaliated quickly."

The guards killed the three militants, but several others joined the fight, Shah said. The two groups waged a gunbattle before the remaining militants fled, he said.

A growing number of recent attacks in Pakistan have targeted civilians, including a suicide bombing at a market in Peshawar in late October that killed 112 people, the deadliest attack in Pakistan in more than two years.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks targeting public places, but Pakistani officials have blamed the Taliban.

In a video released Sunday, the group denied the allegations, saying it was focused on attacking the Pakistani government and did not believe in killing civilians.

Conspiracy theories
Repeating conspiracy theories that have appeared in local media, Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq blamed the recent attacks, including a suicide bombing at an Islamic university in the capital, on the Pakistani government and the private security firm formerly known as Blackwater.

"The dirty Pakistani intelligence agencies, for the sake of creating mistrust and hatred among people against the Taliban, are carrying out blasts at places like the Islamic university, Islamabad, and the Khyber bazaar, Peshawar," said Tariq.

The video, which was posted on YouTube, carried the logo of al-Qaida's media wing, As-Sahab. It was the first time the Taliban spokesman has appeared in an As-Sahab video, showing the growing links between the two groups.

By denying responsibility for killing civilians, the Taliban could make it more difficult for the government to convert public anger into greater support for the South Waziristan offensive and other efforts to crack down on militants.

More from msnbc.com Clinic with two doors, a symbol of two-tier care Patients face bitter choice: Pay up or lose access Schools offer hope for Pakistan's kids First Read: For Obama, pain may equal gain On Twitter: Breaking news updates | Weird and wild

MORE FROM SOUTH & CENTRAL ASIA

South & Central Asia Section Front

U.S. gives millions as Afghans target poppies Afghan blasts, firefight kill 4 U.S. troops Filling a gap in Pakistan's school system Pakistani forces attack Taliban, kill 22 Blasts kill 5 in restive Indian region Russian cosmonaut Feoktistov dies at 83 NYT: Officials see hope in anti-Taliban militias Afghan road builder hits a violent dead end India's PM arrives for state visit to U.S. South & Central Asia Section Front   Add South & Central Asia headlines to your news reader: