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ISLAMABAD: A suicide blast at a UN office shows a new Pakistani Taliban leadership capable of devastating attacks, analysts said, despite offensives the military believe broke the back of the organisation.
Four Pakistanis and one Iraqi were killed in the bombing Monday at the Islamabad offices of the World Food Programme (WFP), when a man disguised in military uniform walked into the lobby and detonated his explosives.
The brazen nature of the attack shows both fragile security in the capital and the willingness of the extremists to target even humanitarian organisations in their bid to deter army advances into their heartland, experts said.
Military pushes against the Taliban in northwest Swat valley, an expected assault in the tribal areas and the death of rebel commander Baitullah Mehsud have enraged the hardline Islamists, they said, and they want vengeance.
"Those facing military action in the northwestern tribal regions will hit at our weak points. They will take revenge to show that they can cause maximum damage," said A.H. Nayyar, a political and security analyst.
"The US claimed that the terrorist infrastructure has been dismantled...but this is not the case - the infrastructure is still there and continues to pose serious threats to the security of our people," he added.
American and Pakistani officials spoke of bitter infighting among Taliban ranks after the death of Baitullah Mehsud in a US drone missile strike in the lawless South Waziristan tribal area along the Afghan border on August 5.
But the messy succession fight seems resolved, with new Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud appearing on local television channels on Monday vowing "severe" new attacks to avenge Baitullah Mehsud's death.
The army is also claiming success against the Taliban in Swat valley, where a fierce offensive launched in late April left more than 2,000 militants dead.
Although there has been no claim of responsibility, Interior Minister Rehman Malik blamed Monday's WFP blast on the Taliban, and said the bombing was the action of a wounded animal striking out after the military had "broken their back".
But he also warned of further attacks in nuclear-armed Pakistan, where more than 2,140 people have been killed in militant strikes in the past two years, most blamed on Mehsud's Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.
"The militants held a meeting five days ago and decided to target some selected personalities and installations to bring government and the Pakistani nation under pressure," Malik told reporters.
The bomber apparently disguised himself in the uniform of the paramilitary Frontier Corps - who guard the WFP offices - and asked to use the toilet. He was allowed to enter the building, bypassing all the security measures.
"This speaks of a serious security lapse in Islamabad where despite stringent security, the suicide bomber could enter the building," Hasan Askari, a visiting professor at Johns Hopkins University, told AFP.
The new militant leadership was trying to deflect attention away from South Waziristan, he warned, in the hope of stalling a looming military offensive.
Troops have been stationed on the fringes of the tribal belt and sporadic air strikes have taken place, but the timing of any Waziristan offensive remains a mystery, with the military said to be "softening up" their target.
Washington alleges that both Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters are holed up in the mountainous tribal zone, plotting attacks on the West and slipping across the border to target foreign troops stationed in Afghanistan.
Mehmood Shah, a retired brigadier and former security chief of tribal areas, said he thought the UN blasts Monday bore the hallmarks of Al-Qaeda involvement, and urged the government to steel for more violence.
"Al-Qaeda has jumped in to give respite to the Taliban and let them reorganise," he told AFP. "We should be ready for even more deadly attacks in future because Al-Qaeda is a very powerful organisation."
- AFP/sc
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