Pakistan blast kills 12 police recruits

A suicide bomber has killed at least 12 police recruits near the main police station in Pakistan's Swat Valley, an official said today.

It is one of the largest attacks in the north western valley since the army said it regained control of it from Taliban militants.

Television footage from the scene showed officers gathering up mutilated bodies outside the station in the valley's main town of Mingora.

Police dispatcher Mohammad Akhtar said the blast came as new recruits were being trained.

Provincial information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said 12 members of a new community police force were killed while training near the station when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives.