up to 10 believed dead in Pakistani blast

ISLAMABAD, Nov 8 (Reuters) Up to 10 people were believed to have been killed when a bomb went off on a parade ground next to a Pakistani army camp in a northwestern town yesterday, security officials said.

Details of the explosion in the town of Dargai, in North West Frontier Province, were sketchy but the officials said there were casualties.

''There are no confirmed figures but there could be eight to 10 fatalities,'' said a senior security official in Peshawar, the province's capital.

Military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan confirmed there had been ''an incident'' but said he had no details.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.

Dargai is a known stronghold of an Islamist militant group, the Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi. The group, which backs Afghanistan's Taliban, was banned by the government in 2002.

Security forces last month attacked a madrasa, or religious school, run by the group in a tribal area near the Afghan border killing about 80 suspected militants.

REUTERS PB VC1050