ISLAMABAD: A Taliban suicide bomber killed seven people outside a key Pakistani air force facility yesterday, with officials quick to deny suggestions the target was linked to the country's nuclear programme.

The bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body at a checkpoint outside the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex in Kamra, 75km northwest of the capital, Islamabad.

The complex is the country's major air force maintenance and research hub. Some foreign military experts have mentioned it as a possible place to keep aircraft that can carry nuclear warheads, but the army strongly denied that the facility is tied to the programme in any way.

"It's nonsense. It's rubbish," a military source said.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani told a cabinet meeting last week that the country's nuclear infrastructure was safe and faced no threat from Taliban militants.

In another attack, an explosion killed 17 people on a bus heading to a wedding in the Mohmand tribal region.

The bloodshed has coincided with the run-up and first week of a major army offensive in a Taliban and Al Qaeda stronghold along the Afghan border.

Analysts have warned of the possibility of more attacks as the militants come under pressure in South Waziristan, with the Taliban hoping bloodshed and disruption will cause the government and ordinary people to lose their appetite for the offensive.

A military statement yesterday reported two more soldiers were killed, bringing the army's death toll to 20, and that 13 more militants were slain, bringing their death toll to 142.

A Danish soldier was shot dead as his unit came under fire during a foot patrol in Afghanistan's restive Helmand province.

l The US State Department said yesterday that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will travel to Pakistan soon but that dates cannot be announced for security reasons.