Islamabad: The al-Qaeda was behind the attack on the US Consulate in Peshawar and was seeking to provoke a serious political crisis, a Pakistani senator has said.
"If you remember, similar attacks were carried out when president Asif Zardari delivered his first presidential speech," senator Haji Adeel, senior vice president of the Awami National Party (ANP) said on Tuesday, adding that the al-Qaeda was working closely with the Pakistani Taliban.
"Once again the militants did the same action. It clearly aims to create a crisis in Pakistan and aims derail the political process in the country," he said.
Militants also targeted ANP workers in Dir district on Monday when they were celebrating the renaming of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) to Khyber Paktoonkhwa.
"Both moves show that they only want chaos," Adeel said.
At least 12 people were killed in a series of bomb and suicide explosions Monday afternoon on the US consulate in the high-security zone of Peshawar, the capital of the restive NWFP.
Among the dead were six attackers, two security personnel, a civilian and three foreigners, whose identities were, however, not immediately known. At least 18 people were injured.
The blasts came hours after a powerful explosion ripped through a political rally in the Lower Dir area of the NWFP. That attack occurred in Timer Girah sub-district during a political rally taken out by the province's ruling ANP.
The banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the blasts. Talking to BBC, Azam Tariq, a purported TTP spokesperson, claimed responsibility for the attack on the US Consulate but denied responsibility for Lower Dir suicide blast.
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