Dec. 24 (Bloomberg) -- A suicide bomber killed nine people in an attack on a military convoy in northwestern Pakistan, two days after 50 people died in the same district in a bombing that targeted an ally of President Pervez Musharraf.

The insurgent blew himself up yesterday on the Kas Road in Mingora, North West Frontier Province, killing ``four security forces personnel and five civilians,'' security agencies said in a statement, according to the official Associated Press of Pakistan. Twenty-three people were injured in the attack.

Former Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao, a critic of Islamic extremism, survived the Dec. 21 bombing of a mosque in Charsadda district that was crowded with Muslims marking the Eid al-Adha festival. More than 100 worshippers were injured.

Fighting between Pakistan's army and Islamic militants escalated in the northwest after Musharraf ordered security forces to storm Islamabad's Red Mosque in July, ending a challenge to the government by clerics seeking to impose Islamic law in the capital. At least 600 people have been killed in militant bomb attacks since July, according to Pakistan's army.

The attack on Sherpao was the second in eight months on the former minister, who stepped down last month when the government was dissolved to allow for parliamentary elections in January.

A small group of extremists wants to force its ``distorted thinking'' on Pakistan's moderate Muslim majority, Musharraf said after the Dec. 21 attack, APP reported at the time. The president ordered security and intelligence agencies to track down the ``masterminds'' of the bombing.

War on Terrorism

Musharraf's support for the U.S.-led war on terrorism is unpopular with Islamist parties in Pakistan. He has survived at least four assassination attempts by extremists since 2001.

Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, in an audio message released in September, called on Pakistanis to rebel against their government to avenge the Red Mosque assault. Pakistan's army has battled al-Qaeda and Taliban supporters in the northwestern region that borders Afghanistan since 2003.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Dec. 21 that al- Qaeda fighters seeking sanctuary in Pakistan's ungoverned northwestern provinces appear to be infiltrating the host nation.

Musharraf, 64, imposed a state of emergency last month after firing Supreme Court judges as they were about to rule on the legality of his re-election in October for a second five- year term. Musharraf, who took power in a military coup in 1999, stepped down as army chief Nov. 28 and was sworn in as Pakistan's civilian president a day later.

Musharraf told the Pakistani Americans Public Affairs Committee in Islamabad last week that he will ensure the Jan. 8 parliamentary elections are free, adding that ``there is no room for fraud,'' APP reported at the time.

The U.S. is leading international demands that Musharraf ensure elections are free and fair. Opposition parties and human rights groups say restrictions that remain on the media and the firing of judges make a legitimate election campaign impossible.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Heath in Sydney at mheath1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 23, 2007 19:57 EST