Osama bin Laden's villa was demolished in Abbottabad - PHOTO

Villa in Abbottabad (Pakistan) where bin Laden lived at least five years when he was killed by an American commando unit in May 2011, was demolished.Demolition started Saturday's three-story building took less than two days without interruption. "Demolition is complete, three-story building was demolished," said an official of the Pakistani security forces.Monday morning, only protective fence with four feet high was demolished."We were ordered to remain on site until further directives. Wall will remain intact for now. Next step is to  remove debris," according to the official.Villa located near Abbottabad (North West)

An unmanned U.S. plane crashed in northwest Pakistan

An unmanned U.S. plane crashed Saturday in tribal region of northwest Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan, an official source announced.
Unmanned aircraft crashed in mountainous Mishihel, about 30 kilometers west of Miranshah, the main town in the Waziristan region (north), often the target of strikes against the Taliban, said military officials.
"An unmanned U.S. plane crashed, apparently because of technical problems," said a military official in Peshawar. The incident was confirmed by authorities in the region.

Al-Qaeda releases 9/11 anniversary

Al-Qaeda has released a video marking the anniversary of 9/11 which includes a message from its slain leader Osama bin Laden to the American people, monitoring group SITE Intelligence said Tuesday.

SITE said the 62-minute video titled "The Dawn of Imminent Victory" also includes a speech by Al-Qaeda's

new chief Ayman al-Zawahiri who applauds the "Arab Spring" revolutions.

The US intelligence monitoring service said the footage of bin Laden appears to be the same material found in the US raid on his Pakistan hideout in May, which Washington released but without its soundtrack.

Bin Laden, who was killed by US Navy SEALs in the covert operation, warned Americans against "falling as slaves" to the control of major corporations and "Jewish money capital", SITE said.

He recommended that Americans read the book "Obama's War" by Bob Woodward which details wrangles over US military decision-making, and told them that US President Barack Obama?s campaign slogan "Yes, we can" is untrue.

Zawahiri, who is now Washington's most wanted man, makes a long speech about events in the past year including the revolutions in the Arab world and the death of bin Laden whom he replaced after a long period as Al-Qaeda number-two.

"Zawahiri... declared that contrary to what is reported in the media, Al-Qaeda supports the revolutions and hopes it will establish true Islam and sharia-based governance," SITE said.

"The popular revolutions, he stated, are a form of defeat for the United States, just as the 9/11 attacks and its alleged lack of success in Afghanistan and Iraq were also defeats."

Al-Qaeda has been absent from the popular protests that have swept the Arab world this year, leading to the fall of leaders in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia and provoking major unrest elsewhere.

Analysts argue that the phenomenon has left the global terror outfit weakened and increasingly irrelevant.

Zawahiri lauded his predecessor bin Laden as a fighter who had taken on the Russians in Afghanistan as well as the Americans, and who he said had sacrificed everything for his campaign.

"America is denying the fact that it is not facing individuals or groups but the whole ummah (Muslim community) of Islam. After the martyrdom of Sheikh Osama, the Islamic face of the revolutions was shown," he said.

"America?s arrogant nature will push it to deny the facts that it is facing a rising ummah and that it may be a cause of defeat and its fall, with permission from Allah."

Zawahiri was only shown in a still picture in the video, which was released by Al-Qaeda's media arm, as-Sahab, and posted on jihadist websites Monday, SITE said.

Like his slain Saudi-born co-conspirator, Zawahiri has been in hiding since the United States declared its war on terrorism after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The US on Sunday marked the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 strikes in emotional ceremonies held under tight security after federal authorities warned of a new terrorism scare.

Authorities check 'credible' terrorist threats to NYC, D.C.

 Federal authorities investigated "specific, credible but unconfirmed" threats Thursday night involving possible plots to attack New York City and Washington around the 9/11 anniversary, the Department of Homeland Security said.

The threat involving possible bombings was shared with New York and Washington police.

The threat information was about three people who may have been dispatched to the U.S. to meet with associates to carry out the attacks, said a federal law enforcement official who was not authorized to speak publicly and asked not be identified.

President Obama was briefed about the matter Thursday morning and received updates during the day.

Department of Homeland Security spokesman Matt Chandler said documents recovered from the raid in May on Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan revealed al-Qaeda's interest to strike the U.S. on meaningful dates.

"In this instance, it's accurate that there is specific, credible but unconfirmed threat information," Chandler said. "As we always do before important dates like the anniversary of 9/11, we will undoubtedly get more reporting in the coming days."

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the threat, while credible, was "not corroborated." He urged New Yorkers to go about their business as usual.

"There is no reason to change any of your routines," he said at a news conference Thursday night. He also urged citizens to report anything suspicious.

New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the department was extending officers' shifts and would be increasing police presence on the streets.

He also said officers would be conducting additional bag checks at subway stations and warned citizens they might encounter police checkpoints throughout the city.

The threat information did not prompt an immediate elevation of the national threat level.

Earlier Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said there was "lots of chatter" among known terror associates and on jihadi websites in the run-up to Sunday's 10th anniversary of the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people at the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., and Shanksville, Pa.

In the past several days, federal, state and local authorities have dispatched thousands of personnel to sensitive locations in New York City, Washington and elsewhere to guard against possible disruptions.

Even without a confirmed threat, officials said the heightened state of alert was necessary because of al-Qaeda's stated intent to strike on the 9/11 anniversary.

Attorney General Eric Holder said there would be noticeable increases in law enforcement at national landmarks and public gatherings commemorating the anniversary.

Napolitano said more air marshals would be riding commercial airlines, which al-Qaeda hijackers converted into guided missles during the 2001 attacks.

Amtrak is stepping up screenings of passengers and baggage throughout its rail system, including the heavily traveled Northeast corridor.

Information seized from bin Laden's compound shortly after the terrorist leader was killed by Navy SEALs revealed that al-Qaeda considered the U.S. rail system as a possible target.

John O'Connor, Amtrak vice president and police chief, said the railroad is expanding patrols and bomb-detection teams.

White House chief counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said U.S. efforts in the aftermath of 9/11 — specifically the elimination of top-level terror leaders — have "made it much more difficult" for operatives to launch large-scale attacks.

Al-Qaeda "has taken it on the chin," Brennan said.

The death of bin Laden, the architect of 9/11, was the most significant and symbolic of the organization's losses.

Brennan said the material shows the al-Qaeda chief was "a little out of touch about how debilitated his organization was" after years of battle with U.S. and other forces.

"He was pushing for these major types of attacks," Brennan said. "I think his lieutenants were trying to tell him, 'We know what you want to do — great aspirations — but our ability to do that is degraded because we are losing people.'"

Female bombers hit Pakistan police at blast site

A female suicide bomber detonated her explosives near police guarding the scene of an explosion earlier Thursday in this northwestern Pakistani city, a rare double-pronged attack that killed four officers and a boy.

Police said a second female suicide bomber is also believed to have been killed in the second explosion

before she could detonate her vest. At least 30 people were wounded in both attacks.

The blasts ended weeks of relative calm in Peshawar, a frequent target of Taliban and al-Qaida fighters hiding in the nearby tribal belt bordering Afghanistan. No group claimed responsibility, but the attacks suggested that militants remain able to strike, despite army operations against them.

Attacking the same area twice — with the second attack targeting police, rescue officials and other first-responders — is a rare, but not unprecedented, tactic in Pakistan. Such double-bombings are more common in Iraq.

In the first incident, a remote-controlled bomb exploded in the Lahori Gate area of the city as a police truck carrying constables about to start their shift drove by. Four police officers and a boy passing by were killed, while 22 people were wounded.

Roughly an hour later, two women approached police guarding the area, officials said. One of the females first threw a grenade, then was able to partially detonate her suicide vest, said Shafqat Malik, a police official with the bomb disposal unit. She appeared to be just 16 or 17 years old, he said.

"We're trying to remove the remainder of the jacket from the body very carefully," he said.

Eight people were wounded in the second attack, including six civilians, police official Tariq Khan said.

While suicide bombings are common in Pakistan, the use of women in the attacks is unusual.

In June, the Pakistani Taliban said they had sent a husband and wife suicide squad to a police station in another northwestern town. That attack killed 10 people. Late last year, a female suicide bomber attacked a World Food Program food distribution center in the region, killing 45.

New al-Qaeda chief praises Syrian protesters

Al-Qaeda's new leader praised Syrian protesters seeking to topple the regime of President Bashar Assad while trying to portray the uprising as an Islamic battle against American and Israeli interests.

The video message posted on extremist websites Wednesday is Ayman al-Zawahri's first since al-Qaeda

named him its new leader in June following the death of Osama bin Laden in a U.S. commando raid in Pakistan.

The Egyptian-born al-Zawahri, who long served as bin Laden's top deputy, directly addressed the Syrian protesters who have risen up against Assad's rule despite a bloody government crackdown. The message appeared to be an attempt to place al-Qaeda firmly on the side of the anti-government demonstrators.

"You are an example, explaining lessons to your Arab and Muslim nation in sacrifice, steadfastness and the struggle against oppression," al-Zawahri said of the protesters. "How could you not? You are the sons of the Levant, the front for jihad and martyrdom."

In the past, al-Qaeda leaders, including bin Laden himself in a video released after his death, have sought to associate themselves with the uprisings sweeping the Arab world this year, offering guidance on how the protests should be led to serve al-Qaeda's extremist version of Islam.

Many experts, however, think the uprisings have shown how out of touch the terror group has become with the aspirations of Arab youth who have been the uprising's main activists. Most seek greater freedom from dictatorial regimes, not the Islamic rule al-Qaeda advocates.

And in Syria, activists have said religion has played little role in their uprising to topple Assad.

In the video, Zawahri — dressed in a white robe, large glasses and a turban, with an assault rifle at his side — also warned the Syrian protesters not to believe that President Barack Obama and the United States stand with them.

"Tell America and Obama: … we are waging a battle of freedom and liberation, freedom from corrupt tyrants and the liberation of the religion of the Muslims," al-Zawahri said.

Al-Zawahri claimed that Washington wants to replace Assad with "a new ruler who follows America, protects Israel's interests and grants the (Muslim) nation a few freedoms."

The U.S. administration has toughened its rhetoric toward Assad's regime, declaring recently that the Syrian leader has lost all legitimacy as a leader.

Al-Zawahri also attacked Assad, calling him "the leader of the criminal gang, descendant of the traitors, biggest of those who spread corruption, head of the executioners, America's partner in the war on Islam in the name of terrorism, and border guard for Israel."

Osama Bin Laden: Al-Qaeda releases posthumous message

A recording purported to have been made by Osama Bin Laden shortly before he died has been released by al-Qaeda.

In the message, he praises the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt and speaks of a "rare historic opportunity" for Muslims to rise up.

The 12-minute audio message appeared on a video posted on Islamist websites, and has been translated by the US monitoring group SITE intelligence.

Bin Laden was shot dead by US Navy Seals at a Pakistan compound on 1 May.

In the recording, Bin Laden refers to the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt but makes no mention of the uprisings in Syria, Libya and Yemen.

"I think that the winds of change will blow over the entire Muslim world, with permission from Allah," he says.

"There is a serious crossroads before you, and a great and rare historic opportunity to rise up with the Ummah (Muslim community) and to free yourselves from servitude to the desires of the rulers, man-made law, and Western dominance," he also says.

"So, what are you waiting for? Save yourselves and your children, because the opportunity is here".

Al-Qaeda is generally perceived to have been caught off guard by the Arab Spring uprisings that began in January in Tunisia and swiftly followed in Egypt - toppling the long-time leaders of both countries.

Analysts say that while both al-Qaeda and the West back the uprisings sweeping across several Arab nations, they seek very different outcomes. The West hopes they will lead to democratic reforms, while al-Qaeda wants to see new governments based on their interpretation of Islamic law.

Obama says he OKd bin Laden raid despite warnings

President Obama faced sharply divided counsel and, to his mind, barely better-than-even odds of success when he ordered the May 1 commando raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the president said in an interview broadcast Sunday.

Obama acknowledged having only circumstantial evidence placing bin Laden at the Abbottabad compound in Pakistan. There was not a single photograph or confirmed sighting of the man, he said, and he worried the Navy SEALs would find only a "prince from Dubai" instead of the terrorist leader responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

"At the end of the day, this was still a 55-45 situation," Obama told CBS' "60 Minutes" in his first broadcast interview since bin Laden's death. "Had he not been there, then there would have been some significant consequences."

Obama said he weighed the risks and judged that he should proceed with what was, by all accounts, the most promising opportunity to capture or kill bin Laden in nearly a decade. In doing so, he rejected the advice of a substantial number of his national security advisers, who worried that the plan to send ground troops deep into Pakistan was too risky, he said.

Earlier Sunday, the White House's chief security officer, Thomas Donilon, said there was no evidence showing that Pakistan's intelligence, military or political establishment knew of bin Laden's hideout in the army garrison town 35 miles from the capital.

The president acknowledged surprise at learning that bin Laden had managed to remain hidden in Pakistan since 2005 without being discovered by the country's security officials. He said White House officials believe there had to have been "some sort of support network for bin Laden inside of Pakistan," though it was unclear who or what that support network was.

Donilon said Pakistan remains a critical partner in battling al Qaeda. But he acknowledged that Pakistani officials have not granted Americans access to critical information gathered since the raid or allowed interviews with bin Laden's three widows who are now in Pakistan's custody.

"We've asked for access, obviously," Donilon said on ABC's "This Week with Christiane Amanpour," one of four television news shows he visited Sunday.

A Pakistani intelligence official said Sunday that his government needed permission from the wives' home countries before Pakistan could allow U.S. officials to question them. One of the wives is from Yemen; the official said he did not know the other wives' nationalities.

Bin Laden, at work in Abbottabad

Initial analysis of the huge cache of documents seized at Osama bin Laden's compound shows he was not a figurehead but the operational leader of al-Qaeda - an active manager who communicated regularly with terrorist partners about plots and tactics, a senior intelligence official said.

"As a result of the raid, we've acquired the single largest collection of material from a senior terrorist ever," said the official, who spoke Saturday on condition of anonymity. "The materials have already provided us some important insights. . . . We are already disseminating intelligence across the U.S. government based on what we found."

The official, who refused to be identified because of the nature of his work, called the bin Laden operation "the greatest intelligence success in a generation."

Seeking to dispel any doubts that it was bin Laden who was killed, the U.S. government also released five videos seized at the compound, one showing bin Laden as he did not intend to be seen in public.

With a blanket draped over his shoulders, he huddled with a remote control in his hand, sometimes rocking back and forth while watching television footage of himself. His unkempt gray beard contrasted with the dark black and apparently dyed beard in outtakes also released Saturday of bin Laden's appeals to the public.

"It showed that bin Laden was not the superhero he wanted his people to think," said Rep. Peter King (R., N.Y.), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

The material found in the raid "confirms how important it was to go after bin Laden," CIA Director Leon Panetta said in a statement.

An early review of digital, audio, and paper documents "clearly shows that bin Laden remained an active leader in al-Qaeda, providing strategic, operational, and tactical instructions to the group," the official said. "Though separated from many al-Qaeda members who are located in more remote areas of the region, he was far from a figurehead. He was an active player, making the recent operation even more essential for our nation's security."

A CIA-led multiagency task force is cataloging, translating, and analyzing the material, the official said, and "the treasure trove of information has provided some golden nuggets on communications within the al-Qaeda group."

Although he lived for five or six years in a compound without telephone or Internet connections, bin Laden continued to issue orders and encourage terrorist plots through a network of couriers, the official said. "He remained focused on inspiring and engineering international terrorism and on attacking the U.S.," the official added.

However, the official would not say what sort of instructions bin Laden issued, what plots might have been in the works, or whether any of the material seized has produced "actionable intelligence" - government jargon for information that can be acted on immediately.

He did allow that bin Laden "appeared to show continuing interest in transportation and infrastructure targets."

The official added that, despite conventional wisdom that bin Laden was living in a remote location and not able to communicate with his followers, "it was always our working assumption that he was involved in aspects of al-Qaeda's operational planning."

U.S. Navy SEALs shot and killed bin Laden on Monday after the CIA tracked him to a compound in the garrison town of Abbottabad, 35 miles north of Islamabad.

The evidence seized during the raid also includes phone numbers and documents that officials hope will help lead to other al-Qaeda figures and shed light on whether anyone in the Pakistani government was protecting bin Laden. The United States has not found any evidence that Pakistan's government knew he was there, the official said.

One segment of video footage released Saturday shows bin Laden, looking perhaps older than his 54 years, watching footage of his younger self on television firing weapons. Officials did not play the audio, saying they didn't want to release al-Qaeda propaganda.

These are the sorts of videos only bin Laden would have possessed because he was careful about his public image, the official said.

One video was a never-released "Message to the American People," officials said, believed to have been recorded last year between Oct. 9 and Nov. 5.

In the video, bin Laden condemned U.S. policy and denigrated capitalism, the official said.

"We don't know why the video hasn't yet appeared," the official said.

Other footage showed bin Laden rehearsing for video messages.

"Our takeaway is that he jealously guarded his image," the official said.

The United States released the videos, he said, "to underscore two main points. First, the videos make clear that bin Laden remained active in al-Qaeda's propaganda efforts, especially in shaping his own image. Second, it is highly unlikely that some of this footage would have resided anywhere else but with bin Laden."

The official also recounted the reasons the United States was certain bin Laden was the tall man they shot: His wife called him by name during the raid; facial comparisons of eyes, ears, and nose were a match with a 95 percent certainty, and the DNA matched a profile compiled from his extended family. The chance it wasn't bin Laden is "1 in 11.8 quadrillion," the official said, drawing laughter from reporters.

Al-Qaeda "is damaged by bin Laden's death, but remains dangerous," the official said. He noted that the group released a statement Friday acknowledging bin Laden's death.

"It is noteworthy that the group did not announce a new leader, suggesting it is still trying to deal with bin Laden's demise," he said.

It is an open question who would take over after bin Laden, the official said, because Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's No. 2, is unpopular among some elements.

How Liz Taylor, Michael Jackson and Marlon Brando escaped 9/11 in a hire car

Three of the world’s biggest stars embarked on the road trip after witnessing the collapse of the Twin Towers.

Driving more than 500 miles across the America, stopping only to eat at fast food outlets, no one appeared to recognise the stars in their midst.

Eventually the group arrived at an undisclosed location in Ohio where they believed they would be safe from terrorist attacks.

Jackson and Brando took turns to drive their modest hire car but the Godfather star annoyed his co-stars by insisting on pulling in at KFC and Burger King restaurants along the way.

Details of the fascinating but bizarre road trip were revealed by one of Jackson’s former personal assistants in an interview with Vanity Fair magazine.

The US publication claimed that Brando and Dame Elizabeth had been in New York on September 10 2001 to watch Jackson perform at Madison Square Garden.

The following day al-Qaeda terrorists slammed two passenger jets into the Twin Towers sending panic throughout the city.

With all the airports closed and fearing follow up attacks, Jackson hatched a plan to drive across America to a place of safety.

After picking up Brando and Dame Elizabeth, they set off in a hire car, driving more than 500 miles into the mid-west state of Ohio.

However one of Dame Elizabeth’s closest aides has disputed the story insisting the actress stayed in New York in the aftermath of the attacks, visiting the site of ground zero and praying regularly at a New York church.

Vanity Fair also revealed how the Oscar winning actress, who died in March aged 79, enjoyed listening to Britain’s Got Talent singer Susan Boyle when she was in her car.

Did Harsh Interrogation Tactics Lead To Bin Laden?

To find Osama bin Laden, U.S. officials first had to find the man who served as his courier. But the operation that killed the al-Qaida leader has stirred up some controversy: Some of the information about the courier may have come as the result of harsh CIA interrogations.

NPR has learned the courier was a Kuwait-born Pakistani who went by the name Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti. It was in his house that U.S. forces found and killed bin Laden.

Documents from the Guantanamo detention camp show prisoners there and at secret CIA facilities were interrogated over and over about bin Laden's courier network and Kuwaiti in particular.

One man scheduled to be transferred out of Guantanamo, for example, was recommended for continued detention in part because intelligence officials thought he had more information to provide about Kuwaiti.

Every statement was carefully recorded: that Kuwaiti had a guesthouse in Pakistan where he hosted visiting al-Qaida volunteers; that he arranged airline travel and passed along money from al-Qaida financiers; that he was assigned to teach one al-Qaida member to use email.

Enhanced-Interrogation Techniques.

The Guantanamo documents describe Kuwaiti as a senior al-Qaida facilitator and courier. The footnotes reveal how — and when — this information was acquired.

Some of the first leads came from detainees who were interrogated while in CIA custody; this is where the controversy arises.

About a third of the CIA detainees were subjected to what the agency euphemistically called enhanced-interrogation techniques.

"They range from something as innocuous as the 'attention grasp' or 'facial grasp,' you know, grabbing somebody by the lapels or grabbing them by the chin, to a variety of things that have to do with sleep or diet or stress positions," former CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden said.

In the most extreme case, detainees were subjected to waterboarding, when they experienced what it's like to drown.

Among those who provided information while under CIA control was Hassan Gul, a senior al-Qaida operative from Pakistan. According to the detainee documents, Gul told interrogators that Kuwaiti traveled with bin Laden. A senior U.S. official says the information Gul provided was key to identifying Kuwaiti as bin laden's courier.

But he may have done it under stress.

A 2005 document indicates that Gul was one of the CIA detainees subjected to "enhanced interrogation techniques." He is now free.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, and one of three CIA detainees subjected to waterboarding, indirectly confirmed information about Kuwaiti.

Criticism Of Methods

Critics of "enhanced interrogation techniques" say they are tantamount to torture, and they argue that intelligence gleaned from those interrogations is unreliable. They also point out that some of the most useful information that came from Mohammed and others was obtained only after the harsh interrogations ended.

Hayden says he wouldn't be surprised by that.

"I'm willing to concede the point that no one gave us valuable or actionable intelligence while they were, for example, being waterboarded," he said. "The purpose of the enhanced-interrogation techniques was to take someone who was refusing to cooperate with us and to accelerate the process by which we would move from a zone of defiance to a zone of cooperation."

Moving a detainee from defiance to cooperation — essentially, breaking him.

But how do you know the information the detainee finally provided could not have been acquired some other way?

In an interview with NBC, current CIA Director Leon Panetta said harsh CIA interrogations were only one part of the intelligence-gathering process that led to bin Laden's courier.

"They used these enhanced-interrogation techniques against some of these detainees, but I'm also saying that the debate about whether we would have gotten the same information through other approaches, I think, is always going to be an open question," Panetta said.

And a hotly debated one, given that finding and killing bin Laden was as much an intelligence triumph as a military achievement.

Breaking News: Gaddafi vows 'no mercy' in attack on Benghazi

TRIPOLI: Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi said his forces will soon launch an assault on rebel stronghold Benghazi, saying "traitors" would be showed no mercy but those who laid down their arms would be spared.

"The decision has been taken. Prepare yourselves. We will arrive tonight," Gaddafi said on state television.

"We will chase the traitors from Benghazi," he told his troops. "Destroy their fortifications. Show them no mercy. The world needs to see Benghazi free."

Meanwhile, he said "those who surrender and throw down their arms will be saved."

Sticking to recurring claims throughout the month-old rebellion that al-Qaida is behind it, Gaddafi said "we will hunt down the miscreants and bearded ones that have destroyed out country and we will punish them without mercy."

"We will also punish the mercenaries who have served them," he added, without saying to whom he was referring.

Gaddafi said the insurgents "take their strength from lies, and you do not have to spare them."

Touching on another recurring theme of his public statements about the rebels, he said they needed to be "hunted down in every neighbourhood, every street, every house."

Gaddafi, who came to power in a bloodless 1969 coup against Libya's monarchy, said "I freed Benghazi with my rifle, and Benghazi will not betray me. Tomorrow Benghazi will be free."

He accused the rebels of using people who had fled from prisons, criminals and murderers to do the "traitorous acts."

This "handful of drug addicts and criminals are in the process of making a racket so that the Americans and the Europeans can come into hour houses, humiliate you and stain your honour."

Faisalabad, Pakistan car bomb kills 13

A car bomb exploded in a neighborhood full of government buildings in eastern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing 13 people and wounding dozens, officials said. An office of Pakistan's state-run airline and a local gas station were severely damaged in the blast, in Faisalabad city.

The explosion underscored the tenuous security situation in this U.S.-allied, nuclear-armed country, where al-Qaida and the Taliban have proliferated. Such attacks have often been chalked up to militant retaliation against army offensives against them.

Senior government official Tahir Hussain said that 13 people died in the blast.

The car bomb apparently triggered a gas cylinder to also explode at the fuel station, adding to the destruction, Faisalabad police chief Aftab Cheema said. Police offices as well as the Pakistan International Airlines building are nearby.

Pakistani TV showed piles of bricks and chunks of twisted metal from cars strewn across the neighborhood. Rescue workers struggled to pull victims out of the rubble. More than 50 people were wounded, police official Liaquat Ahmed said.

Most attacks carried out by Islamist militants in Pakistan occur in the northwest regions near the border with Afghanistan, and the primary victims tend to be police or other security forces.

Faisalabad, 160 miles (260 kilometers) south of Islamabad, is a key hub for Pakistan's textile industry and it has rarely been targeted. However, it lies in Punjab province, where Islamist extremist groups are believed to be growing in strength.

The U.S. has pushed Pakistan to crack down on Islamist extremist groups in its borders, saying they threaten not only Western troops engaged in the Afghan war effort but also the stability of Pakistan itself.