Suicide blasts kill 59 in Pakistan

Two suicide bombings outside Pakistan's main defence industry complex have killed 59 people and wounded at least 81.

Pakistani members of the Taliban said they carried out the attacks near the site in Wah, 20 miles northwest of Islamabad where around 25,000 workers produce explosives and weapons in about 15 factories.

A spokesman for the militants, Maulvi Omar, said the blasts were retaliation for military operations against militants in the northwestern region of Bajaur, on the Afghan border.

He said: "If it doesn't stop we will continue such attacks. The Wah factory is a killer factory where arms are being produced to kill our women and children."

Hundreds of workers were milling about outside the complex at the end of their shift when the bombers struck. One eyewitness, the manager of a nearby petrol station, said: "There were bodies lying everywhere and wounded people soaked in blood were screaming for help."

"Many of the wounded were either without legs or hands. I could see body parts hanging on trees," he said.

Last week the militants said they were behind a bomb attack on an air force bus in the city of Peshawar which killed 13 people. The blast was in retaliation for military operations in the northwest, a militant spokesman said.

Since July last year, Pakistan has suffered a wave of militant violence, particularly in the northwest, in which hundreds of people have been killed including many security force members.

Violence subsided when a coalition government that came to power after a February election opened talks with militants but it picked up again after their top leader, Baitullah Mehsud, suspended the talks in June.

This week's resignation of President Pervez Musharraf, under threat of impeachment from the ruling coalition, has raised questions about the government's commitment to tackle violence.

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