MIRAMSHAH, March 23: Six security personnel, among them an engineer of the Frontier Works Organisation, were killed and at least 10 others injured when a suicide bomber attacked a checkpost in North Waziristan tribal region on Saturday evening.

Officials said the suicide bomber on board a water tanker rammed his vehicle into the Eisha checkpost on the Bannu-Miramshah road near Mirali.

The killed officer was identified as Captain Junaid.

Eyewitnesses said the explosion was so powerful that it demolished nearby buildings and security officers’ barracks.

AFP adds: “Half of the checkpost building has been destroyed in the blast,” said a security official in Peshawar, warning that the casualty figure could rise.

“It was a suicide attack. The bomber used a water tanker, he rammed it into the outer wall of the building,” he said.

A security official in Miramshah confirmed that the dead included an officer.

Pakistani troops have fought for years against homegrown insurgents in the tribal belt on the Afghan border.

There are fears that rampant insecurity could prove a major challenge for historic general elections on May 11, which should mark the first democratic transition of power between two civilian governments in the country’s history.