Gunmen on motorcycles opened fire at a roadside restaurant in south-western Pakistan today, killing 18 people, officials said.

Authorities in Pakistan were today investigating a possible assassination attempt against President General Pervez Musharraf after shots rang out as his plane took off from a military base, officials said.

Floods due to a cyclone and rain have left as many as 100 people dead in south-western Pakistan, a senior relief official said, as the government appealed for donations of tents to shelter about 1 million people left homeless by the flooding.

Thousands of people were stranded on rooftops and tree branches today as cyclone-spawned floods surged through towns and villages of Pakistan’s coastline.