ISLAMABAD: A day after militants in North Waziristan announced a month-long truce with Pakistan, at least six security personnel were killed when an explosives-packed car rammed into them at a checkpoint outside Miranshah town, reports from the region said.

At least 10 soldiers were injured in the explosion that took place as the security personnel ordered the station wagon to stop.

This is the second suicide bombing in a month in North Waziristan, where the Pakistan government is carrying out operations against militants as part of the U.S.-led war on terror. Pakistan has deployed 80,000 troops in the region located on the border with Afghanistan to flush out Al Qaeda-linked militants and their local supporters.

On Sunday, a man claiming to be a Taliban spokesman in North Waziristan, called the one-month truce in the area and wanted the Pakistan government to consider demands including release of tribals who had been arrested during the operations, withdrawal of troops and reinstatement of government employees whose services had been terminated for their alleged links with the militants.

The Governor of the North-West Frontier Province welcomed the ceasefire announcement, saying the demands would be put before a local jirga.

The U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice is expected to visit Pakistan on Tuesday for a meeting with President Musharraf, officials said here. Ms. Rice will first stop in Kabul, where Afghan President Hamid Karzai last week appealed to the international community to reassess its strategy in the war on terror, urging a focus on the "sources of terrorism" in Afghanistan.

The Afghan leader has several times blamed Pakistan for helping and assisting the Taliban.

Meanwhile, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, a six-party alliance of political religious groups, which once supported President Musharraf, announced that it was launching a movement to remove him and demanded that the government withdraw troops from the frontier tribal areas immediately.

The MMA is angry with President Musharraf for not keeping his promise to it — in return the alliancesupported an amendment strengthening his powers — that he would give up his post of Army Chief at the end of 2004.

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