A boy in a school uniform blew himself up at a Pakistani army recruitment centre today, killing 31cadets, officials said, in an attack that challenges government assertions that crackdowns have weakened militants.
The army has carried out a series of offensives against the Pakistani Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the attack.
Operations in lawless tribal areas along the Afghan border have failed to break the resolve of Taliban fighters linked to al-Qaeda, who are determined to destabilise the US backed government.
The brazen bombing at the Punjab Regiment Centre in the northwestern town of Mardan suggested militants are regrouping after a lull in major attacks.
In a sign of how nervous the government is about security, soldiers at the gates of the military compound searched drivers before allowing them to transport coffins inside.
Militant operations in recent months have been mostly sectarian and have not focused on military targets. "The bomber struck recruits when cadets were busy in their morning training," a military official said. At least 20 people were wounded.
A military statement said a boy had walked into the compound and blew himself up, without giving his age. An intelligence official said he was aged 12 but government officials later said he was around 19 or 20 years old.
The Taliban said they had carried out the attack, adding it had targeted recruits because "Pakistani army is working for American interests in Pakistan".
The Taliban have previously launched bold attacks on the military, nuclear-armed Pakistan's most powerful institution. Last March, two suicide bombers killed at least 45 people in the city of Lahore, including nine soldiers.
In 2009, Pakistani Taliban militants disguised as soldiers attacked the army's headquarters in Rawalpindi and later took 42 people hostage in a nearby office building.
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani condemned the attack. His government faces pressure on several fronts. It is trying to revive a stagnant economy propped up by an $11 billion International Monetary Fund loan which requires politically sensitive reforms. Public discontent is growing over official corruption, rampant poverty and power cuts.
Washington, the source of billions of dollars in aid, is pressuring Pakistan to intensify its fight against both domestic militant groups and ones that cross the long, porous border to attack Western forces in Afghanistan.
Tensions between the allies are running high over the case of Raymond Davis, who killed two Pakistanis in late January. The US embassy in Islamabad insists he is a diplomat who acted in self-defence when he shot two men in the middle of a busy Lahore street on January 27th. He thus enjoys diplomatic immunity and should be released according to international law and custom.
The Pakistanis say it is a matter for the courts to decide and have moved to charge Mr Davis with two counts of murder. Handing him over to the Americans would deepen anti-American sentiment in Pakistan.
Reuters