A suicide bomber attacked a convoy carrying a paramilitary police commander in north-western Pakistan today, killing at least six people, including two women.

Thousands of troops were deployed to north-west Pakistan to try dissuading outlawed Islamic militants from launching a holy war against the government for its bloody attack on a radical mosque, officials said today.

Hundreds of police secured a religious procession through Peshawar in north-west Pakistan today, after a suicide bomber killed 15 people near a similar Shiite Muslim gathering and heightened fears of sectarian violence.