Death toll from Pakistan suicide attack rises

Peshawar: The death toll in a massive suicide blast in Pakistan's militant-plagued northwest reached 35 as more bodies were pulled from the rubble of damaged buildings, police said on Sunday.

At least 80 people were wounded in the attack on Saturday, in which an explosives-packed pickup truck blew up at a police checkpoint on the outskirts of Peshawar.

Police said a huge amount of explosives was used in the blast, signalling the attacker might have been aiming for a more important target.

A teacher and school guard were among the five dead newly recovered from the rubble, police official Rashid Khan said.

The attack demonstrated the severe militant threat facing the Muslim nation, whose lawmakers the same day overwhelmingly elected Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of slain Benazir Bhutto, as president.

On Sunday, the Election Commission said Zardari's win had been certified.