Kamra, 22 October (AKI) - A suicide bomber on a bicycle detonated his explosives at a checkpoint on a road leading to a major air force complex on Friday in Pakistan's volatile northwest, killing at least eight people and injuring at least 13 others. Pakistani media said the attack happened outside the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) in Kamra Cantt, located 75 kilometres northwest of the capital Islamabad.

The facility is the country's major air force maintenance and research hub.

At least two security troops died in the blast.

Pakistani media said the attack was blamed on the Taliban, however, no militant group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari and prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani on Friday strongly condemned the attack at Kamra checkpost.

The two leaders in separate messages condemned the terrorist attack and vowed to foil the attempts of such elements, Pakistan's official news agency Associated Press of Pakistan said.

Zardari and Gillani said the Pakistani government will not be deterred with such cowardly acts and vowed not to rest until they achieve the elimination of "extremists and terrorists."

The attack takes place a week after the Pakistani army began a major offensive against the Pakistani Taliban and al-Qaeda militants in South Waziristan, near the Afghan border.

On Thursday, the military claimed it had killed more than 170 militants but that at least 13 soldiers had also been killed in the offensive.