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PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Islamist militants armed with guns and suicide vests targeted the US consulate in Pakistan's northwestern capital on Monday and unleashed carnage at a political rally, killing 43 people.
The attacks in quick succession were among the deadliest so far this year in nuclear-armed Pakistan, where insecurity has raised concerns in the United States as Washington steps up the fight in Afghanistan and against Al-Qaeda.
Pakistan's Taliban claimed responsibility for the consulate attack, claiming it was to avenge a US drone war targeting top militants in Pakistan's border areas with Afghanistan, and threatened further assaults on Americans.
The ability of heavily-armed militants to get so close to the US mission and other military installations, such as the provincial headquarters of Pakistan's premier spy agency, will likely rattle the US and Pakistani governments.
Up to 15 militants armed with explosives and driving in two vehicles targeted the heavily guarded US consulate in Peshawar, a city of 2.5 million on the edge of Pakistan's lawless tribal belt, setting off multiple explosions.
"The target was certainly the American consulate but they didn't succeed in getting there," Pakistani police officer Ghulam Hussain told AFP.
"One of the suicide bombers blew himself up close to the gate. Police guarding the US consulate started retaliatory fire. More blasts took place. We have recovered unexploded material from four different points," he said.
Three powerful explosions and bouts of gunfire echoed through the area, where an AFP reporter said the attacks occurred at a checkpoint about 20 metres from the US consulate where heavy thick smoke spewed into the sky.
"We can confirm there has been an attack on the US consulate Peshawar facilities," US embassy spokeswoman Ariel Howard told AFP, unable to provide any details about the nature of the attack, possible damage or casualties.
Pakistani police and army sealed off the area, preventing journalists from accessing the scene, and later carried out a number of controlled explosions.
"The miscreants are trying to spread panic among people in a desperate attempt to undermine the government's operation against terrorists," said Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
A provincial Cabinet minister said four militants, a policeman and another person were killed during the attack.
"They came in two vehicles. The militants were well-equipped. It was a well-organised attack," Bashir Ahmed Bilour, senior minister in the North West Frontier Province government headquartered in the city, told reporters.
"The situation is now under control," he said, although it was not clear whether some of the assailants had escaped.
Anti-Americanism is rife in Pakistan, where US missile strikes that have killed more than 830 people since August 2008 have surged under President Barack Obama as he steps up efforts to end the war in Afghanistan.
"We accept the attacks on the American consulate. This is revenge for drone attacks," Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Azam Tariq told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.
"We will carry out more such attacks. We will target any place where there are Americans," he said.
Peshawar lies on the edge of Pakistan's tribal belt -- branded by Washington as a global headquarters of Al-Qaeda.
Around 3,200 people have been killed in suicide and bomb attacks over the last three years in Pakistan, blamed on militants opposed to the US alliance.
On Monday, a suicide bomber attacked an open-air rally in the northwest district of Lower Dir, where Pakistan waged a major offensive against local Taliban insurgents last year.
The attack killed 41 people during a celebration organised by the leading secular political party in northwest and was the deadliest in Lower Dir since the anti-Taliban offensive.
"Forty-one people have been killed and 82 others wounded," Qazi Jamil, police chief for the northwestern region of Malakand, told AFP, saying it had been a suicide car bomb attack.
The Awami National Party (ANP) said it organised the meeting to celebrate plans to rename North West Frontier Province -- Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, as laid out in a package of constitutional reform being debated in the federal parliament.
The new name honours the Pashtun-majority population in the province, replaces a name that dates back to British colonial rule and is part of efforts to devolve greater authority to the provinces.
- AFP/ir
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