Pakistani Taliban militants have claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack on a UN office in which five people were killed, saying the United Nations was a US slave.
A suicide bomber dressed as a paramilitary soldier blew himself up in an office of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) in the capital, Islamabad, yesterday, killing five members of staff.
"We accept responsibility for the attack in Islamabad," Azam Tariq, a spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or Taliban Movement in Pakistan, said in a telephone call to a journalist in the northwestern city of Peshawar.
"All these organisations are slaves of the United States," Tariq said when asked why the aid agency, which is helping millions of impoverished Pakistanis, was targeted.
Pakistan security forces have made gains this year against al Qaeda-linked Pakistani Taliban militants who have set off numerous bombs in towns and cities aimed at security forces and government and foreign targets.
The United Nations temporarily closed its office in Pakistan after the blast for security reasons, a UN spokeswoman said, adding security would be reviewed today.
Tariq accused the United Nations of turning a blind eye to atrocities in ethnic Pashtun tribal regions on the Afghan border, militant strongholds that the army has been attacking and where US drone aircraft have launched deadly missiles.
"Why can't the United Nations see the atrocities being committed in Waziristan and other tribal areas?" he said referring to a hub of Taliban and al Qaeda activity.
Reuters