Children of UN staff to leave Pakistan

The United Nations has ordered children of its international staff to leave Pakistan after raising its security level in response to militant attacks.

The alert came as a suicide bomber killed himself and three others in north-west Pakistan in an attack aimed at a prominent politician. Asfandyar Wali Khan, leader of the Awami National Party (ANP) which is part of the coalition government, was not hurt in the blast in the north-western town of Charsadda, police said. Wali's ANP is fiercely opposed to militants in the region waging a bloody campaign against the government.

"Obviously, Asfandyar Wali was the target as the suicide bomber tried to enter his guest house but was shot by the security people. He then fell to the ground and blew up," provincial police chief Malik Naveed told Reuters.

Hospital officials said more than a dozen people had been wounded in the blast, the latest in a wave of attacks by Islamist militants. It came as the UN said it was raising its security level in Pakistan and children of international staff must leave the country.

A UN information officer, Ishrat Rizvi, insisted the organisation remained committed to Pakistan. "It's a matter of only evacuating the children of international staff members which doesn't make any difference to the work of the United Nations," she said.

A suicide truck bomber attacked the Marriott Hotel in the capital Islamabad on 20 September, killing 55 people including three Americans.

Aid groups, some embassies and foreign companies are expected to follow the UN move and ask dependants of their international staff to leave. Britain is withdrawing the children of its diplomats from Pakistan, the Foreign Office announced this week.