17 die after bomber targets Pakistan police station

About 40 people were wounded in the attack in Lakki Marwat, which sits on the main road between Punjab province, Pakistan's largest and most prosperous, and the North and South Waziristan tribal regions bordering occupied Afghanistan.

A US-backed Pakistani army offensive pushed many militants out of South Waziristan in October. But the militants still control much of North Waziristan, where the CIA has been conducting a campaign of targeted killings using drones.

Tehrike-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that they targeted the police for encouraging residents to set up militias, or lashkars, to fight militants.

The group pledged to carry out additional attacks unless the militias disbanded.

"After the police, we will attack those active in forming lashkars if they have not given up their activities," TTP spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan declared from an undisclosed location.

Hours after the attack, officials said a US missile strike had killed three alleged militants in North Waziristan.

On Friday Pakistani Taliban commander Qari Hussain Mehsud warned that his fighters were poised to launch attacks on targets in the US and Europe.

Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani-born US national who has pleaded guilty to the failed Times Square attack in New York in May, warned at his trial of more strikes on the US until it leaves "Muslim lands."

Mr Shahzad told the judge he had undergone five days of bomb-making training during a 40-day stay with TTP militants in Pakistan between December 9 and January 25.