A gas leak sparked an explosion and fire that killed two workers at a nuclear plant believed to produce enriched plutonium for Pakistan’s atomic weapons programme.

Police guards shot and killed a suicide attacker today as he tried to sneak into a training facility for 900 police recruits in eastern Pakistan, preventing him from detonating his explosives.

Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers will sit at the same table tomorrow for the first time since the dispute over Islamic militant attacks on India’s Parliament pushed the nuclear neighbours to the brink of war.