A suicide bomber yesterday killed more than 10 people and wounded 22 in an attack on police who had been guarding Islamists marking the anniversary of an army commando raid on the Red Mosque in Pakistan's capital, police said.

Senior police official Kamran Adil said his men were the target and most of the more than 10 victims were police.

The government's top Interior Ministry official, Rehman Malik, told reporters at the scene the bomb had been caused by a suicide bomber and eight people had been killed and 22 wounded. The blast happened several hundred m from the mosque, shortly after a tightly guarded meeting of Islamists there had ended.