Pakistan, October 12, 2009: Pakistani police say a suicide bomber has killed 41 people, including six security personnel, in the Shangla district, near the troubled Swat Valley. Authorities say 45 people were wounded in the attack.

Police say the attacker struck a military convoy and set off a huge blast - part of a growing string of explosions and attacks in the country.

The deadly incident in Shangla district came hours after Pakistan officials said military fighter jets bombed militant outposts in a lawless northwestern tribal belt, killing nearly a dozen suspected militants and wounding several others.

Last Monday, a suicide bomber attacked a U.N. office in Islamabad, killing five staff members, and on Friday another suicide bombing killed at least 50 people in the northwestern city of Peshawar.

Pakistani leaders have vowed to press forward with a long-awaited offensive against terrorist bases in south Waziristan, a tribal region bordering Afghanistan.