A suicide blast has killed the Pakistani military's top medical officerand seven others as President Pervez Musharraf rejects fresh pressure to step down.
The attack in the garrison city of Rawalpindi was one of three separate incidents that marked a resurgence in violence after a lull during elections last week which saw Mr Musharraf's allies suffer defeat.
Army officials said that Lieutenant General Mushtaq Baig, the army's surgeon general, was the highest ranking Pakistani officer to be killed in an attack since 11 September 2001.
The army said the general, his driver and guard were ‘martyred' along with five civilians, while 25 people were wounded.
Taliban militants said yesterday they were ready for peace talks with Pakistan's new government, but only if it rejects Mr Musharraf's military campaign against them in the Afghan border area.
At least three Pakistani soldiers were killed and four wounded in a bomb in the southwest province of Baluchistan.
In northwest Pakistan, four people were killed when unidentified gunmen stormed the offices of British charity Plan International.
Pakistan has been on edge since the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in December.
Her party won the most seats in the polls, but Mr Musharraf's spokesman has dismissed fresh pressure at home and abroad for the embattled leader to step down.
In Washington, Joe Biden, one of three US senators who observed the elections, discussed Mr Musharraf's options in a television interview.
Asked if he thought it would be good for Mr Musharraf to prepare an exit strategy to avoid being forced out by a hostile parliament, Mr Biden said, ‘probably.’
