Police in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province say they have foiled
a suicide-bomb plot to assassinate a regional education minister.
Officials say the militant was killed during a confrontation with police.
Elsewhere Monday, intelligence officials in South Waziristan say one
Pakistani soldier was killed and three others wounded during an attack
on a military checkpoint.
But a militant spokesman says several soldiers were killed in the attacks, which targeted two military posts.
In other news, Pakistani authorities say they are investigating a group
of foreigners for allegedly having ties to al-Qaida. They were detained
on immigration offenses.
Among them is a Swedish national once held at the U.S. military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The group -- which includes three other Swedes and seven Turks -- was
detained last month near the town of Dera Ghazi Khan in Punjab
province.
Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik says they all were living in
Pakistan illegally, adding that two were previously linked with
al-Qaida.
