Pakistan school bomb kills Westerners

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At least 70 people were injured in the attack on a convoy heading to the opening ceremony of a different school in Lower Dir, near the Afghan border.

It is believed three American soldiers and one Pakistani soldier died. Three schoolgirls were believed to have been killed and a further 63 injured. Security guards, foreign aid workers and three local journalists were among the wounded. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the attack and ordered an investigation.

The area, near the al Qaeda and Taliban strongholds on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, is prone to attacks by Islamist militants.

Militants have attacked dozens of girls' schools in the region to try to impose their extreme views, which are opposed to female education, on local communities.

The convoy, led by soldiers, was on its way to Maidan, an area of Lower Dir district, when it was attacked in Koto, a heavily populated village on the route.

The school that was due to re-open had just been re-built with foreign aid after being blown up by militants in January last year.

The Pakistani army carried out a major offensive to drive the Taliban out of Lower Dir and the neighbouring districts of Swat and Buner last year, but they are still present in remote areas.

The US soldiers were part of a team sent to train members of the paramilitary Frontier Corps to tackle al Qaeda and the Taliban.