By Xinhua,
Islamabad : At least 41 people were killed and 45 others injured Monday in a suicide bomb attack at a crowded market in northwest Pakistan, TV reports said.
The bomb exploded near a convoy of the security forces in Alpuri tehsil, the headquarters of Shangla district, near the insurgency-hit Swat valley.
Three vehicles of the convoy were destroyed, the police said.
Iftikhar Hussain, information minister of North West Frontier Province (NWFP), said six soldiers were among those killed and 45 people injured in the attack.
Several militants who were hiding in a nearby area started firing at the convoy after the blast, the private AAJ TV channel reported.
The injured were rushed to hospital.
Meanwhile, the security forces have cordoned off the area.
A curfew was imposed in Shangla after the incident.
No group has claimed responsibility for the blast.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has condemned the attack and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has ordered a probe into the incident.