ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A bomb exploded at a polling station in northwest Pakistan on Sunday killing six people during a by-election for a provincial assembly seat, government and hospital officials said.
The attack was the latest in a string of blasts in northwest Pakistan where security forces are battling al Qaeda and Taliban militants.
"The bomb went off when the polling was going on," a provincial government official said.
The polling station had been set up in a school near Buner town, which is in North West Frontier Province and near the Swat Valley where security forces have been fighting militants since last year.
The school collapsed in the blast.
The provincial official said as well as six dead, about a dozen people were wounded. The death toll may rise, he said.
Resident Abid Bunerai said by telephone from the scene that the dead and wounded were being taken to hospital.
(Reporting by Zeeshan Haider; Editing by Robert Birsel and Valerie Lee)