Blasts rock north-west Pakistan

At least 13 people have been killed in two suicide car bomb attacks in north-western Pakistan.

Seven people are reported to have been killed and dozens injured in a bombing in the city of Peshawar.

Earlier, a suicide car bomb in the town of Bannu also killed at least six people, police said.

The BBC's Aleem Maqbool, in Islamabad, says the attacks show the Taliban appear to be reasserting themselves after a series of setbacks.

In Peshawar, police said the bomb had exploded in the car park of a bank in a commercial area. Witnesses said the blast was heard across the city.

"It was a very big explosion. I could see smoke rising from the scene," Asad Ali, a resident, told Reuters by telephone.

Police official Anwar Khan told AFP news agency that he could see casualties lying on the ground.

More than 40 people are reported to have been injured.

Police targeted

In the attack in Bannu, the bomber detonated his vehicle outside a police station.

Reports say the police building and several neighbouring houses collapsed in the blast. A number of people are thought to be trapped in the rubble.

Bannu is close to the tribal region of North Waziristan, a Taliban stronghold.