Pak: Police officer killed in suicide attack

In a pre-dawn attack, a suicide bomber on Sunday detonated his explosives-laden car on a key motorway linking several cities of Pakistan, killing a police officer.

The incident occurred near the Islamabad-Lahore Motorway Inter-change, namely Lillah, a motorway police spokesman said.

After intercepting a suspected vehicle, the motorway police asked its driver to stop but he blew up his explosives-filled car killing a sub-inspector, the spokesman was quoted as saying by television news channel Geo News.

A suspect was nabbed near the blast scene following the attack and was taken to unidentified location for investigation, the report said, citing sources.

The police said they had prior information about two suspicious vehicles travelling on the motorway, which links several main cities and towns of Pakistan, local media said.

Pakistan has in recent days witnessed a wave of suicide bombings and militant attacks blamed on Taliban. Nearly 200 people have died this month in these strikes, which mainly targeted security facilities and personnel.

The army has launched a major offensive against the Taliban in its stronghold of South Waziristan and captured Kotkai, the hometown of Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, on Saturday.

In the intense tussle for Kotkai, 21 militants were killed, raising the Taliban death toll during Operation Rah-e-Nijat to 171. Pakistan's 22 army personnel have so far been killed since the campaign was launched eight days ago.