A suicide bomber has shot his way into the residence of a Pakistani provincial government minister killing him and seven others.

A suicide bomber attacked a hospital in the south-west Pakistani city of Quetta today, killing at least seven people, as Shiite Muslims gathered to mourn a murdered bank manager.

PAKISTANI officials said a second suspect had been arrested in connection with a plot to kill former premier Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated last month.

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.

A Pakistani reporter for the BBC said he was released today by unknown men in the capital, Islamabad, a day after they abducted, blindfolded and beat him.