The Pakistani Taliban said on Tuesday that they carried out the suicide attack on a UN compound that killed five aid workers and closed UN offices nationwide in the worst attack in the capital in months.

Four Pakistanis and an Iraqi were killed on Monday when a man dressed in military uniform breached strict security measures and detonated explosives in the heavily fortified office of the World Food Programme (WFP) in Islamabad.

Azam Tariq, a spokesperson for the umbrella Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) movement, vowed further onslaughts against foreign and local targets.

"This attack was launched by us — we claim responsibility," Tariq told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.

'Promoting the US agenda'

"The WFP is promoting the US agenda. They are silent on massacres and do not comment on killings in Waziristan and other areas," Tariq said, referring to a lawless northwest tribal district where the US has launched missile strikes.

"Such types of suicide attacks will continue in future. We will target all people and offices working for American interests. We have sent more suicide bombers in various parts of the country and they have been given targets."

The bloody strike on a humanitarian target provoked worldwide outrage, and forced the United Nations to close their offices across the country.

"We are assessing the security situation. Today (Tuesday) the offices are closed," said UN spokesperson Ishrat Rizvi.

"We hope that the offices will be open soon... The closure of the offices will affect the operations but our effort and intention is to continue our humanitarian assistance."

Fikrit Akira, the UN resident coordinator in Pakistan, told a press conference that the UN would review on Thursday its decision about reopening its offices in Pakistan, though its "life-saving" operations were continuing.

Attacker dressed in a paramilitary uniform

Meanwhile, the Under-Secretary-General for UN Peacekeeping Operations Alain Le Roy, who is visiting Pakistan, condemned the attack.

"I would like to join the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and others in condemning this outrageous attack," Le Roy told reporters in Islamabad on Tuesday.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik has already blamed the blast on Taliban militants avenging a military push against them in northwest Swat valley, which was launched in late April and has left more than 2000 militants dead.

He said the attacker managed to navigate the tough security by dressing in a paramilitary uniform and asking to use the toilet, and he warned that there could be more attacks across the country.

"Terrorists are doing what a wounded animal would do. They have suffered a serious setback," he told reporters.

Malik repeated government threats that the military was now poised to target the Taliban leadership holed up in the northwest tribal belt along the Afghan border, where Washington believes al-Qaeda fighters also hide out.

"We will not tolerate a violation of the writ of the government anywhere in the country," he said.

Taliban militants based in North and South Waziristan have been blamed for a string of attacks and suicide blasts that have killed more than 2140 people in Pakistan in the last two years.

On Tuesday, Pakistani fighter jets bombed Taliban hideouts in South Waziristan, killing six militants, intelligence officials said.

Military spokesperson Major General Athar Abbas told the private Samaa TV channel that an operation in the area was "inevitable", but gave no timescale.

'Reserve the right to retaliate'

Tariq vowed fierce resistance against any offensive in their stronghold.

"Pakistan has been threatening a military operation. We also reserve the right to retaliate. We will give them a befitting response," Tariq said.

The Taliban have already said they will avenge the death of their leader Baitullah Mehsud in a US missile strike in South Waziristan on 5 August.

There has been an increase in US drone attacks on Pakistan's tribal belt recently, as the United States tries to stem the flow of militants waging an insurgency against about 100 000 foreign troops stationed across the border.

"We will keep on launching attacks until the drone strikes are stopped," Tariq said.

The WFP blast was the deadliest in the capital since April, when eight paramilitary police were killed in a suicide bombing at a tented camp.

Militants have also struck foreign targets in Islamabad, with 60 people killed in a truck bomb at the five-star Marriott Hotel in September 2008.

AFP

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