Pakistan market blast kills 8

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: A bomb blast in a market killed eight people in northwest Pakistan yesterday, the latest in a wave of attacks since the army launched an offensive against Taliban militants.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan is struggling to push back a growing Taliban insurgency and security forces have made progress in more than a month of fighting against militants in the Swat valley, northwest of Islamabad.

The militants have responded with a string of bombs in towns and cities.