A suicide car bomber attacked a police checkpoint in north west Pakistan today, killing 11 people, including four children, the latest in a wave of militant attacks that have claimed more than 300 lives in the past month.

An appeals court in Afghanistan upheld 20-year prison sentences for two men who published a translation of the Koran that drove religious leaders to call for their execution.

Interrogators questioning al-Qaida’s reputed number-three, Abu Farraj al-Libbi, have been repeating the same two questions over and over again: “Where is bin Laden?” and “What were your plans?” a senior Pakistani intelligence official said today.