15 people killed in attacks in Pakistan

A vehicle packed with explosives rammed into a police checkpoint in northwest

Pakistan on Thursday, killing nine people, police said.

Thirty-one others were hurt in the attack outside Hangu district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said police official Aslam Khan.

The province was formerly known as the North West Frontier Province.

Meanwhile, six tribal policemen were killed and three others injured Thursday when unknown gunmen opened fire on a patrol in Khyber Agency in Pakistan's tribal region, a senior government official said.

The police van was on a routine patrol when more than five gunmen opened fire, said Shafeerullah Khan, the administration chief of Khyber Agency.