Four killed in latest suicide attack in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, July 20 (Reuters) A suicide car bomber rammed a paramilitary checkpoint killing four people in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region today, the latest attack in a wave of violence sweeping the country in recent weeks.

''Four people including a paramilitary soldier and three civilians have been killed,'' a security official told Reuters. Six people, including three civilians, were wounded, he added.

A spokesman for pro-Taliban militants, Abdul Hayee Ghazi, told Reuters: ''One of our comrades carried out this suicide bombing as others did in the last few days. We will not stop such attacks.'' A wave of bomb attacks has swept Pakistan, killing more than 180 people, since the army's siege and assault earlier this month on the Lal Masjid or Red Mosque complex, a militant stronghold in the capital, Islamabad.

While militants are believed to be avenging the mosque assault, pro-Taliban fighters have abandoned a peace pact in North Waziristan, adding to concern over a deteriorating security situation in the volatile northwest.

Reuters RN DB2221