A suicide attacker set off a bomb at a security checkpoint in north-west Pakistan today, killing at least 10 people and injuring 52, officials and a doctor said, underscoring the relentless security threat in the country.

THE first groups of the two million Pakistanis who fled a military offensive against the Taliban in Swat Valley began trickling back home yesterday, but many families refused to leave refugee camps, demanding promised government assistance and citing security concerns.

PANICKED civilians fled Pakistan’s Swat district yesterday as the government prepared to shelter 500,000 displaced people and clashes with Taliban fighters heightened fears that a peace deal was about to collapse.