Violence erupted today along the lawless border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, with separate attacks on a US military base, a Pakistani hospital and in the tribal region of Bajaur, leaving dozens dead.

The clashes, in the wake of the resignation of President Musharraf yesterday, highlighted the grip of Islamic militancy on the region, which has become the key batteground of the west's War on Terror and one of the greatest challenges facing Pakistan's fragile government.

A team of suicide bombers mounted a failed attempt to storm Camp Salerno, the second largest American base in Afghanistan, which lies less than 20 miles from the border with Pakistan. At least six bombers attacked the base, with three detonating their vests and up to 13 militants killed. There were no reports of American casualties.

“A most intense terrorist mass suicide operation was thwarted,” the Afghan defence ministry said in a statement.

Across the border in Peshawar, capital of Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province, at least 23 people were killed when a suicide bomber struck a hospital in the city. The dead included civilians and policemen, with up to 35 wounded, according to local police.

The blast is believed to having targeted Shia Muslims, as part of a chain of sectarian attacks in the region. A Shia man shot earlier in the day had been taken to the hospital, where he died of his wounds.

"Dozens of people from the Shia community had gathered at the hospital where the bomb went off," said a district official, Mohsin Shah.

In separate violence in the Bajaur tribal district to the north of Peshawar, five Pakistani soldiers and 13 Taleban militants were reported dead in an attack on a checkpoint near the town of Khar, close to the Afghan border.

"Around 13 militants are confirmed dead in the clashes which continued for several hours," said Mohammad Jameel, a local administration official, adding that five soldiers had been killed. Army helicopter gunships later launched strikes on suspected militant hideouts. There were reports of both militant and civilian casualites.

In the two weeks since Pakistani government forces moved into Bajaur, a notorious hotbed of Taleban and al-Qaeda linked militancy, at least 460 militants have been killed, according to the Government.

Mr Musharraf had been under intense pressure from the US to intensify these kinds of crackdowns, but they contributed to unpopularity at home and were constantly undermined by the country's shadowy Iner-Services Intelligence agency. His successor will be under urgent pressure to decide the future of such missions.

The Camp Salerno attackers were identified about one kilometre from the base perimeter and surrounded by US and Afghan troops, supported by helicopters. Nato said that three suicide bombers killed themselves, three more were shot and one other attacher was killed.

Afghan officials said that six suicide bombers killed themselves and and seven others were killed in the explosions and during a gun battle.

An Afghan defence ministry spokesman, General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, said 13 attackers were killed.“Six blew themselves up, six others died in the explosions and one died in gunfire from commandos. Their bodies have been recovered,” he said.

The Khost governor’s office said two children had also been killed in the fighting.

A Taleban spokesman said that 15 militants had been involved in the attack, of whom seven had blown themselves up and eight had returned to base.

The attack is the second on Salerno in two says, after a suicide bomber yesterday killed 10 civilians, in an attack government officials claimed was deisgned to overshadow Afghanistan's Independence Day.

The violence came as the head of the Pakistani army, General Ashfaq Kayani - who took over as army chief from President Musharraf last November - arrived in Kabul for talks with Afghan and US military officials.

Kayani met US General David D. McKiernan, commander of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, and General Bismillah Khan, the Afghan army’s chief of general staff, in a visit that was planned before President Musharraf's departure.

“The meeting reviewed the security situation in areas along the Pak-Afghan border,” a Pakistani military statement said. “They showed satisfaction at the existing level of cooperation and reiterated their resolve and commitment to contribute towards peace and security in this volatile region.”

Afghanistan has constantly accused Pakistan of failing to get to grips with militancy in the border areas, and recently accused the ISI of planning July's bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul, which killed 60 people. Pakistan denies the charges.

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