PESHAWAR (Pakistan) - AT LEAST nine people were killed and 49 injured on Monday after a suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden car in a restive northwestern Pakistan valley, officials said.

The bombing took place at a security checkpoint in the town of Mingora in scenic Swat valley, which has been rocked by a violent campaign to impose Islamic laws.

'According to initial reports, nine people were killed and 49 others were injured in the suicide blast at the checkpost,' a security official said.

He added that all who died were civilians, and a lone security official was among the wounded.

'The attacker was trying to approach the checkpost after bypassing the queue, but his car exploded on the way,' the official said.

The chief of a local government hospital, Doctor Lal Noor, said that nine bodies were brought in along with the 49 who were wounded.

The mountainous Swat valley was until last year a popular tourist destination featuring Pakistan's only ski resort.

But the region has been turned into a battleground since radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah, who has links to Pakistan's Taleban movement, launched a violent campaign for the introduction of Islamic Sharia law in the valley. -- AFP