An unidentified man, who was injured in the suicide bombing in U.N. food agency's office, talks on his cell phone near the site in Islamabad, Pakistan on Monday, Oct. 5, 2009. A suicide bomber disguised as a security officer struck the lobby of the U.N. food agency's Pakistan headquarters Monday, a day after the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban vowed fresh assaults, authorities and witnesses said.
A Pakistan police officer stands over a wall as smoke erupts from U.N. food agency's office after a suicide bombing in Islamabad, Pakistan on Monday, Oct. 5, 2009. A suicide bomber disguised as a security officer struck the lobby of the U.N. food agency's Pakistan headquarters Monday, a day after the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban vowed fresh assaults, authorities and witnesses said.
Pakistani police commandos stand guard at the main entry gate of U.N. food agency's office after a suicide bombing in Islamabad, Pakistan on Monday, Oct. 5, 2009. A suicide bomber disguised as a security officer struck the lobby of the U.N. food agency's Pakistan headquarters Monday, a day after the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban vowed fresh assaults, authorities and witnesses said.
An unidentified man, who was injured in the suicide bombing in U.N. food agency's office, talks on his cell phone near the site in Islamabad, Pakistan on Monday, Oct. 5, 2009. A suicide bomber disguised as a security officer struck the lobby of the U.N. food agency's Pakistan headquarters Monday, a day after the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban vowed fresh assaults, authorities and witnesses said.
Pakistan security officials gather at the site of a suicide bombing in U.N. food agency's office in Islamabad, Pakistan on Monday, Oct. 5, 2009. A suicide bomber disguised as a security officer struck the lobby of the U.N. food agency's Pakistan headquarters Monday, a day after the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban vowed fresh assaults, authorities and witnesses said.
A woman cries next to the body of a person killed in a suicide attack in Islamabad, Pakistan, Monday, Oct. 5, 2009. A bomber disguised as a security officer blew himself up Monday in the lobby of the U.N. food agency in Islamabad, a day after the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban vowed fresh attacks, authorities and witnesses said.
Pakistani security officials and rescue workers survey the site of a bomb blast in Islamabad.
Four Pakistanis and an Iraqi were killed in the suicide attack Monday
The Pakistani Taliban on Tuesday claimed responsibility for a blast at a United Nations office in the capital which left five aid workers dead, a spokesman for the insurgents told AFP.
"This attack was launched by us -- we claim responsibility," Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.
Four Pakistanis and an Iraqi were killed 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.
"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 tribal district where the US has launched missile strikes.
Pakistan's military has said it is readying for an assault on the northwest tribal belt near Afghanistan, a bastion of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan movement and an alleged hideout and training ground for Al-Qaeda fighters.
"Pakistan has been threatening a military operation. We also reserve the right to retaliate. We will give them a befitting response," Tariq said.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik has already blamed the blast on Taliban militants, saying they were avenging a military push against them in northwest Swat valley launched in late April which left more than 2,000 militants dead.
The Taliban have also vowed attacks to avenge an August 5 US drone missile strike in South Waziristan that killed insurgent commander Baitullah Mehsud.
U.N Food HQ is a well known target."All the security arrangements were in place at the U.N. office," he said.
The United Nations considers itself a major target in Pakistan. Many of its offices are surrounded by 12-foot-high blast walls. Its staff members are driven in bulletproof cars and not allowed to bring their families with them on assignment in the country.
The World Food Program compound, which employs more than 70 people, is surrounded by square metal cages filled with sand and small stones used to protect against blasts and projectiles.
"This was one of the best-protected U.N. centers in all of Pakistan," U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas told reporters at the world body's headquarters in New York. "We were really quite heavily guarded at least at that compound. How that person got in — that is still being investigated, and we're trying to find out from surveillance cameras."
It was unclear whether the attack Monday singled out the World Food Program because of its work in Pakistan or was simply aiming to kill foreigners or those working with them. The dead were four Pakistanis and an Iraqi.
Extremists in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq seeking to attack high-profile Western targets have shown no hesitation in striking foreign humanitarian agencies, including the United Nations, regardless of the work they are doing in relieving the suffering in the countries. A blast in June on a luxury hotel housing many foreign aid workers in the northwestern city of Peshawar killed two U.N. staffers and wounded others.
The attack came a day after the new Pakistani Taliban leader met reporters close to the Afghan border, vowing more attacks in response to U.S. missile strikes on militant targets in Pakistan. Ending speculation he had been killed, Hakimullah Mehsud denied government claims the militants were in disarray and said his fighters would repel any army offensive on their stronghold in South Waziristan.
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