Suicide bomber kills five Pakistani paramilitary

A Pakistani soldier guards a military post overlooking Wana, the main town of the South Waziristan region, near the Afghan border April 11, 2007. A suicide bomber killed five Pakistani troops and wounded five in an attack at the entrance to a paramilitary base in South Waziristan on Thursday, intelligence officials said.

WANA, Pakistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed five Pakistani troops and wounded five in an attack at the entrance to a paramilitary base in South Waziristan on Thursday, intelligence officials said.

The incident took place at the Zari Nur base in Wana, the main town in a Pakistani tribal region on the border with Afghanistan, which has long been regarded as a haven for al Qaeda and Taliban militants.

"The bomber was on foot. He exploded the device when he got to the gate of the camp," an intelligence official, who declined to be identified. He said five troops died on the spot.

The attack came days after U.S. aircraft fired missiles at a house in Wana, killing at least nine militants, including one Arab and two Turkmen.

Pakistan has been battling militancy in the tribal belt since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban regime from Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001.

Militants intensified a campaign of violence after the army stormed a radical mosque in the capital Islamabad last July.

(Writing by Kamran Haider; Editing by Bill Tarrant)