Boy, 13, kills 41 in Taliban suicide bombing in Pakistan

The blast, which was the fourth militant attack in just over a week, was reported to have targeted a convoy of military vehicles as it passed close to a crowded market in Alpuri, Shangla district, not far from the town of Mingora.

At least 41 people were killed, including six members of the armed forces.

"It was a suicide blast. The attacker was on foot," said Major Mushtaq Khan, a spokesman at the army-run Swat Media Centre.

The bomber targeted the convoy as it passed through a security checkpost near a crowded bazaar, hitting both a military target and maximising civilian casualties.

The Taliban have used children to carry bombs, often unwittingly, in neighbouring Afghanistan. It has so far been a rare method of executing attacks in Pakistan.

The attack is just the latest in a string of Taliban blasts in recent weeks that have left dozens of civilians dead.

It followed air strikes against Taliban camps in the previous 24 hours which were a response to the storming and 22-hour siege of the Pakistan army's headquarters in Rawalpindi at the weekend.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for that attack on Monday.

The attacks have come in advance of a promised government offensive in the militant stronghold of South Waziristan.