Source: Inquirer Online

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Counterterrorism experts investigated Wednesday the suicide attacks that killed 25 government employees near the Pakistani capital, officials said.

More than 60 people were wounded when the bombers carried out separate attacks on a Defense Ministry bus and a commercial area in Rawalpindi, a garrison city just south of Islamabad.

There has been no claim of responsibility, but officials have pointed toward Islamic militants fighting security forces in remote regions near the Afghan border.

On Wednesday, two senior security officials told The Associated Press that they suspect the involvement of pro-Taliban groups in Tuesday's suicide attacks.

"There is no doubt that militants from Waziristan were behind these attacks," one of the officials said.

North and South Waziristan lie in a belt of tribally governed territory along the Afghan frontier and are considered strongholds of pro-Taliban militants. US officials have raised concern that al-Qaeda may be regrouping there.

The second official said rebels from the tribal areas recently sent suicide bombers to Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

"We got this information from some people who were caught recently, and who were from North and South Waziristan," the official said.

He said investigators from various security agencies who were probing the blasts had yet to find out more about the people involved.

Both officials asked for anonymity because they are not authorized to speak openly to the media.

There were conflicting reports about the identity of the victims.

The two intelligence officials said the bus was carrying members of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency. However, Pakistan's Interior Ministry said on Tuesday that 18 civilian and military employees died in the bus blast.

Pakistan, a key ally of the United States in its war on terror, has deployed about 90,000 troops in its tribal regions to flush out remnants of the al-Qaeda and Taliban, who often security forces.

Pakistan says it has captured more than 700 al-Qaeda suspects since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, and US officials have praised the ISI agency's role in making those arrests.

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