Bombing in northwest Pakistan kills five, police says

A suicide bombing killed at least five people outside a paramilitary force academy in northwest Pakistan,  police said. A police official said the attack appeared to be the work of two suicide bombers and that the death toll could rise.

 Earlier, a US drone aircraft fired missiles at militants in Pakistan killing eight of them, Pakistani officials said, the third such attack since US forces found and killed Osama bin Laden in his Pakistani hideout.

The killing of the al Qaeda chief in a US raid has strained ties between Washington and Islamabad, with suspicion in the United States that Pakistan knew where bin Laden was hiding and Pakistan angered by a raid it saw as a violation of sovereignty.

The drone strikes also anger many Pakistanis and are a source of friction between the allies. Pakistan officially objects to the attacks although US officials say they are carried out on an understanding with Pakistan.

A drone fired two missiles at a vehicle in the North Waziristan region that was heading toward the Afghan border, killing eight militants, the Pakistani officials said.

"At least four drones are still flying over the area," said one of the officials, who declined to be identified.

The CIA regularly launches attacks with its pilotless aircraft at militants in Pakistan's Pashtun tribal lands who cross into Afghanistan to battle Western forces there.

But the third such strike since bin Laden's killing indicated an intensification of the attacks compared with the weeks before the Saudi-born militant was killed.

The US raid on bin Laden's compound has embarrassed and enraged Pakistan's military and has added to already strained ties.

The United States wants to question bin Laden's three wives, who were found in his hideout after the US raid and are in Pakistani custody, but Pakistan has yet to agree.