Twin suicide blasts kill 24 in Pakistan's Lahore

LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - Two suicide car bombers struckin the Pakistani city of Lahore on Tuesday, killing 24 peopleand wounding scores, most of them in an attack on a governmentsecurity office, police and officials said.

More than 500 people have been killed in Pakistan this yearin militant-related violence, including a campaign of suicidebombings.

One bomb went off near the entrance of the city-centreFederal Investigation Agency (FIA), badly damaging themulti-storey office and nearby buildings. The agency focuses onillegal immigration and people smuggling.

"It is now more obvious that the terrorists are targetingthe law enforcement apparatus of the state," city police chiefMalik Mohammad Iqbal told reporters.

The blasts came as opposition parties that won a February18 election were forming a coalition government, raising hopesfor political stability after months of turmoil over oppositionto President Pervez Musharraf.

Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said thebomber at the FIA building killed 21 people, 12 of them agencystaff.

At about the same time, a second suicide bomber in a carstruck in a mainly residential neighbourhood of the easterncity, about 10 km (six miles) away, killing three peopleincluding two children, he said. In all, 170 people werewounded, he said.

"We're going through a very crucial phase of transition,"Cheema told a news conference, referring to the new government.

"Perhaps one answer could be that the terrorists are tryingto put maximum pressure on the government that is in themaking," he said.

Last week, a twin-suicide bombing killed five people in anattack on a navy college in Lahore.

NAMELESS, FACELESS

Police said the second car bomb blew up after it wasstopped at the gate of an advertising agency office, near theLahore home of Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of assassinatedformer prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Zardari, who led Bhutto's party to election victory lastmonth, said this week the party would not flinch from a longfight against militancy. He was in Islamabad on Tuesday.

Provincial governments had been asked to review securityplans and accelerate intelligence gathering to try to stopbombers before they strike, Cheema said.

"Unfortunately our enemy is nameless, faceless," Cheemasaid, adding that bombers worked in small groups or even alone.

Pakistani stocks fell in early trade after the Lahore bombsheightened concerns about deteriorating security but the mainindex ended slightly higher on bargain hunting, dealers said.

Musharraf condemned the blasts.

"Acts of terrorism cannot deter the government's resolve tofight the scourge with full force," the state news agencyquoted him as saying.

Pakistan has been battling Islamist militancy since joiningthe U.S.-led campaign against terrorism after the September 11,2001, attacks on the United States.

While much of the violence has taken place in remotenorthwestern regions, suicide attacks have taken place in allof Pakistan's major cities over the past year.

In a separate incident, three suspected militants werekilled in an army artillery attack on their hideout in the SwatValley in North West Frontier Province, police said.

Also on Tuesday, cricket officials said Australia hadpostponed their planned tour of Pakistan because of securityfears.

(Additional reporting by Kamran Haider and Zeeshan Haider;Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

(For a Reuters blog about Pakistan please seehttp://blogs.reuters.com/pakistan)