A suicide bomber attacked a Pakistani military vehicle in the city of Rawalpindi today, killing the army's top medical officer, two of his staff and five passers-by, officials said.
The explosion happened a week after Pakistan held largely peaceful parliamentary elections and was the first bomb attack outside the violence-plagued northwest since the vote.
"The general was on his way home and his car was stopped at a traffic light. The bomber was on foot and blew himself up there," said Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema.
He said the bomber was about 16 years old and also killed five civilians and wounded 12 others.
The Pakistan military headquarters is in Rawalpindi and several major attacks on the military and security agencies have taken place in the city since the middle of last year.
Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and more than 20 of her supporters were killed in a gun and suicide bomb attack as she left a rally in Rawalpindi on December 27th.