Fifteen police officers have been killed in a car bombing and ambush of a checkpoint in north-western Pakistan, police say.
A suicide bomber rammed a vehicle loaded with explosives into the guard post in Bannu, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, late on Saturday night, which then detonated, police said.
The attacker then entered an adjoining building and fired at the remaining officers. Back-up units that rushed to the scene also came under fire.
A burgeoning Islamist militant alliance known as Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen, which has been linked to the Pakistani Taliban, has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Images from the scene show the checkpoint had been reduced to rubble, twisted metal and debris carpeting the surrounding area.
