At least nine people, including eight security officials, were killed on Thursday in a suicide attack on a Pakistan Air Force bus, a day after military helicopters pounded the hideouts of Islamic militants in the country’s volatile south-western valley of Swat, killing 18.

A suicide bomber riding a motorcycle blew himself up near the bus in Sargodha, some 175 km southwest of Lahore, capital of the eastern province of Punjab.

“The bus was targeted when it was carrying the employees of the Pakistan Air Force to a training school at the air base, and this was a routine movement which takes place every morning,” said interior ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema.

Four flying officers were among the eight dead air force personnel, while the charred body of the suspected suicide bomber was also found at the scene.

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