RAWALPINDI, Pakistan — A suicide bomber killed 35 people outside a bank near Pakistan's capital today, as the U.N. said spreading violence has forced it to start pulling out some expatriate staff and suspend long-term development work in areas along the Afghan border.

Islamist insurgents have carried out numerous attacks in Pakistan in recent weeks, killing more than 300 people in retaliation for an army offensive in the Pakistani Taliban's northwest stronghold of South Waziristan.

Today's attack in Rawalpindi, a garrison city just a few miles from Islamabad, occurred as many people waited outside the National Bank on a payday to collect salaries. The bank is close to the army's headquarters, and a majority of the people waiting in line were from the military, said Mohammad Mushtaq, a soldier wounded in the attack. Four soldiers were killed in the attack and nine were wounded, said the army's chief spokesman, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas. In total, 35 people were killed, said Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira. Several dozen were wounded.

No group claimed responsibility for the bombing, but that is not unusual in attacks that kill many civilians.

LONDON — British banks bailed out by taxpayers in the wake of the credit crunch will have to sell off large chunks of their businesses in exchange for the billions in state aid they received during the crisis, the government said Sunday.The assets being sold off would be reserved for new entrants to the British banking market, effectively creating three new banks over the coming years. Treasury chief Alistair Darling said the move was in the interest of competition.Banks are in negotiations with Britain's treasury and European regulators over how many assets they would have to give up in return for the help they received from the public.As many as 700 branches could be sold off, according to a government official, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the moves had yet to be finalized.