MINGORA, March 13 Thirteen people were killed and 53 others injured in a suspected suicide blast at a security checkpoint here on Saturday.

The checkpoint, near the Circuit House on Saidu Sharif Road, was being jointly manned by army and police personnel.

Swat district police chief Qazi Ghulam Farooq said a suicide bomber driving a rickshaw set off explosives strapped to his body. Two soldiers and two policemen were among the dead and 10 vehicles were destroyed.

“After stepping off the rickshaw the bomber started moving towards security personnel. Soldiers warned him, but he did not stop and then several shots were fired at him,” the police official said.

Fourteen kilograms of explosives were used in the attack and the bomber was between 18 and 22 years of age.

The explosion damaged several buildings.

Three workers of an NGO were injured when their vehicle caught fire.

The bodies and the injured were taken to a hospital in Saidu Sharif. Five critically injured victims were taken to Peshawar by helicopter.

A volunteer of Swat Scouts who was performing duty along with traffic police also lost his life in the explosion.

Security personnel cordoned off the locality and imposed a curfew on the Saidu Sharif-Mingora road.

Witnesses said they heard several shots after the explosion.

Security in other parts of Swat valley was heightened after the strike.

NWFP Governor Owais Ahmad Ghani and Chief Minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti condemned the bombing.

It was the second suicide attack in Swat during the current year. A bomber had attacked a military convoy in Mingora on Feb 22, killing 14 people, including security personnel.

AP adds Saturday's attack came less than 24 hours after suicide bombers killed 57 people in near-simultaneous blasts in Lahore.

Maj-Gen Ashfaq Nadeem, a top military official for the region, said “Such acts cannot demoralise us. I want to assure the people of Swat that we will continue fighting till the last Taliban are eliminated.”

The explosion sparked panic in the neighbourhood, as soldiers in battle gear carried the victims through narrow streets.

Speaking from his hospital bed, Ziaur Rehman said he was travelling in another rickshaw in the morning when the blast shook the street and violently jolted his vehicle. “I thought somebody picked me up and then threw me down,” said the 24-year-old. “Everybody was crying.”