Three US soldiers are among at least 10 people killed in an attack on a convoy near a school in north-west Pakistan.
Police said around 70 people, including 63 school girls and a US soldier, were injured in the bombing in Lower Dir.
The soldiers were believed to have been training Pakistan's Frontier Corps in counter-insurgency operations.
The two governments deny substantial numbers of US troops are based inside Pakistan, where public opinion is strongly opposed to their presence.
The US embassy has declined to comment on the killings.
Taliban presence
Military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas told the BBC that the US personnel were attached to the Frontier Corps as military trainers.
They were thought to be travelling in a convoy that was heading to the inauguration ceremony of a newly-built girls' school in Maidan, an area of Lower Dir district in the North West Frontier Province, which is a stronghold of Taliban militants.
The blast occurred near a different school in Koto, a heavily populated village along the route.
At least three of the dead were school girls, police said, adding that security guards and three local journalists were also among the wounded.
News that three US soldiers were killed will be highly embarrassing for the Pakistani government, which is acutely aware of the unpopularity of its close ties to Washington, says the BBC's Ilyas Khan in Islamabad.
Critics accuse Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari of turning a blind eye to repeated American drone attacks in the North West, which have killed more than 600 people during the past year, our correspondent says.
The US has argued in the past that its soldiers are in Pakistan to provide security for US citizens, he adds.
Last year, the Pakistani army carried out a major offensive to drive Taliban insurgents out of Lower Dir and the neighbouring districts of Swat and Buner.
But the Taliban are still present in remote areas and the latest attack shows that the militants remain a powerful force in the region, says the BBC's Mark Dummett in Islamabad.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the attack and ordered an investigation, the AFP news agency reports.
The Taliban has frequently targeted girls' schools in recent years, burning several to the ground. Many are now being rebuilt.
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