Bombings at Pakistani Plant Kill 70

WAH, Pakistan, Aug. 21 -- At least 70 people were killed and 100 were injured in coordinated suicide bombings Thursday at Pakistan's largest army munitions factory, the latest in a series of Taliban attacks against government targets.

The Pakistani branch of the Taliban asserted responsibility for the attack at the heavily guarded facility.

The violence comes at a time of political upheaval as the ruling coalition debates the future after the resignation of President Pervez Musharraf this week. The two parties in the coalition appear to be at loggerheads over the reinstatement of about 60 judges deposed last year under Musharraf's government. Coalition leaders are expected to meet again Friday in Islamabad, the capital.

The first blast occurred about 2:30 p.m. when two suicide bombers walked up to the main gate of the Pakistan Ordnance Factory and detonated vests loaded with explosives. Minutes later, a third bomber detonated explosives at another gate, witnesses said.

Nasir Durrani, regional chief of the Rawalpindi police district, said most of those killed were civilians who worked at the factory. Durrani said the suicide bombers approached the gates during a shift change and then detonated their bombs amid the crowd.

Amir Shah, a witness, said he ran toward the main gate of the factory after hearing two huge blasts. When he arrived, he saw the bodies of two suicide bombers, burned beyond recognition.

"The security situation here is very bad today," he said. "It is supposed to be a very highly protected area because of its sensitive nature, so I don't know what happened."

The blasts left heaps of debris and scattered body parts near the gates of the factory. Police and army officials swarmed the area after the attack, and several investigators searched the grounds with bomb-sniffing dogs after an abandoned vest laden with explosives was found near one of the gates.

Dozens of the wounded were rushed to the main hospital, but the overwhelming number of casualties forced officials to begin directing ambulances to hospitals in the nearby city of Rawalpindi. Authorities said that several of the injured were in critical condition and that the death toll was expected to rise.

The attack, one of the largest near the capital in the past year, dealt a blow to the Pakistani military at a time when it is struggling to contain an increasingly powerful Islamist insurgency based in the country's tribal areas.

Leaders of the Pakistani Taliban have vowed to step up attacks on military facilities across the country in retaliation for military operations in the tribal areas. Maulvi Omar, a Taliban spokesman, told the Associated Press that Thursday's attack was in response to airstrikes in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border.

Pakistani security forces launched operations in the Bajaur tribal area about three weeks ago. The fighting has so far displaced more than 200,000 people from the remote, mountainous region.

Military officials said Thursday that they expect more people to be displaced as operations in the nearby tribal area of Kurram begin. More than two dozen people have been killed in clashes among rival tribes there over the past two days.

Military operations in the tribal areas come amid renewed pressure from the United States to blunt the rising insurgency, which includes elements of the Taliban and al-Qaeda but has also been fueled by rivalries among local groups and tribes.

Last week, at least 17 people were killed and several injured when a bus carrying Pakistani air force troops struck a roadside bomb near the northwestern city of Peshawar.