Taliban: Responsible for Pakistan Bombings

21 August 2008

Police in Pakistan say two suicide bombers have killed at least 60 people outside the nation's main weapons complex. At least 70 others were wounded in the blasts.

Authorities say the attackers blew themselves up simultaneously outside the facility Thursday, as hundreds of workers headed home at the end of their shift. The heavily guarded arms complex is located in the town of Wah, about 35 kilometers west of the capital, Islamabad.

Immediately after the blast, soldiers cordoned off the area and kept reporters away from the scene. The complex is made up of more than a dozen factories, employing roughly 25,000 workers who produce military weaponry.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, with a spokesman, Maulvi Omar, telling reporters the attack was revenge for military air strikes in the tribal region of Bajaur. Omar said militants will carry out attacks in major cities including Lahore and Islamabad unless the military halts its operations.

In a speech to parliament Thursday, Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik ignored the warning and vowed to continue the offensive to establish government control in the region.

Security forces in Pakistan have been engaged in an ongoing battle with Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militants in Bajaur along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. More than 500 militants and 22 soldiers have been killed in the offensive, with thousands of people displaced by the violence.

A White House official spokesman says U.S. President George Bush called Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani Thursday and expressed sympathies to the people of Pakistan for the recent terrorist attacks that killed so many innocent people. The two leaders also reaffirmed their mutual support for going after extremists, who they say are a threat to Pakistan, the U.S. and the entire world.