A wave of violence engulfed Pakistan today as gunmen stormed a government building in Lahore and attacked two police academies near the city - one of them an elite commando training centre.

A suicide bomber set off a blast that killed at least 15 people and injured 22 others today at a crowded police checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan, police said.

Heavy rains triggered landslides that struck two villages in Pakistan's mountainous northwest today, leaving 23 people dead and 16 others injured, police said.