Washington: The United States Friday condemned what it called a "heinous" attack in Pakistan that killed scores of people in the first major act of revenge for Osama bin Laden`s death, and said it shows the need to defeat al Qaeda.
"This is a heinous attack," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said of the double suicide bombing that killed at least 80 people at a paramilitary police training center in northwest Pakistan.
"It only highlights the existential threat that these kind of extremist organizations pose for Pakistan, and underscores why it`s so important that we continue to work together both on defeating and dismantling al Qaeda as well as its affiliates."
Pakistan`s Taliban claimed responsibility for Friday`s attack, which also wounded some 140 people.
The town is close to Mohmand, which is in the lawless tribal belt that Washington has branded the headquarters of al Qaeda and where CIA drones carry out missile strikes on Taliban and other Islamist militant commanders.
The Pakistani government condemned the attack, as did Britain, pledging support for Islamabad in the fight against violent extremism.
The Taliban last week threatened to attack security forces to avenge bin Laden`s killing in a US helicopter raid north of the capital Islamabad.
There has been little public protest in support of bin Laden in a country where more people have been killed in bomb attacks in the past four years than the nearly 3,000 who died in al Qaeda`s September 11, 2001 strikes on the US.
Bureau Report
