Six killed as two bomb blasts rock Pakistan

TWO bombs exploded in a market in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar yesterday, killing six people, and gunmen on rooftops ambushed police as they arrived at the scene.

Militant violence in nuclear-armed Pakistan, an important US ally, has surged since mid-2007, with attacks on the security forces, as well as on government and Western targets, and the Taliban threatened more yesterday.

Pakistan is vital for US plans to defeat al-Qaida and cut support for the Afghan Taliban and the US has been heartened by a military offensive against the Taliban in their Swat bastion, northwest of Islamabad.