Pakistan bomber hits checkpoint

At least 12 people have been killed by a suicide bomber who attacked a police checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan.The assailant drove a car loaded with explosives into the Hari Chand checkpoint in the Charsadda district on Wednesday, police said.Nine policemen and three civilians were killed in the blast which severed power cables in the area and left a crater about three metres wide."They tried to stop him but he blew himself up," Riaz Mohammad, a senior police officer, said. An investigation team, forensic experts and bomb disposal officers were being sent to the scene.Asif Ali Zardari, the president, and Yusuf Raza Gilani, the prime minister, condemned the attack."The president said that the perpetrators of such a heinous crime would be brought to justice," a statement from Zardari's office said.