Five young American men under investigation in Pakistan for alleged terror links had established contact with a Taliban recruiter and have told FBI officials they were on a mission to be martyred, a Pakistani police official said.

Police examined clothing, shoes and the severed legs of a man today trying to determine the identity of a suicide bomber who killed at least 50 people during a holiday prayer service at a crowded mosque in north-western Pakistan.

A man convicted of killing an Iranian diplomat 10 years ago has been hanged in Pakistan.