RIAZ KHAN
PESHAWAR

A suicide bomber with a warning to spies for America taped to his leg attacked a crowded restaurant yesterday near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, killing 25 people.

The explosion in Peshawar came days after a relative of the Taliban's late commander was arrested there.

The attack, while not directly related to the political crisis that triggered deadly riots in Karachi at the weekend, was a sign the war in Afghanistan is spilling across the border.

Police said a message scrawled on parcel tape, wrapped around the bomber's severed leg, said spies for the US would meet the same fate as those killed in the blast.

The restaurant's owner, who was killed, was an Afghan with ties to an anti-Taliban warlord and the restaurant was popular with Afghan people.

Security officials said a close relative of Mullah Dadullah, the Taliban military commander killed by US troops over the weekend, was arrested in the restaurant days earlier.

It was unclear whether the arrest had helped the US military track down and kill Dadullah.-AP