TIMERGARA, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistan's Taliban claimed responsibility for a bomb on Wednesday that killed three U.S. soldiers outside a girls school in the northwest of the country and threatened more attacks on Americans.
In scenes that have become familiar in the struggle between Taliban insurgents and the state, a young girl trapped below the stones of a collapsed wall cried out for help after the blast.
Three children and a Pakistani soldier were also killed and 45 people, including 40 school girls, were wounded in the attack near Swat Valley, where the government mounted a crackdown nearly a year ago it said had cleared out Taliban militants.
"We will continue such attacks on Americans," Taliban spokesmanAzam Tariq told Reuters by telephone.
The blast, triggered by a remote-controlled device, was a grim reminder of the resilience of Taliban militants determined to topple the government of President Asif Ali Zardari, a deeply unpopular pro-American leader.
Pakistan's Taliban have bombed markets, schools and military and police facilities despite major government security offensives that have destroyed some of their bases and U.S. drone aircraft strikes that have killed some of their leaders.
"Their intelligence network is pretty good in terms of being able to know that Americans were attending the ceremony," said Kamran Bokhari, regional director for Middle East and South Asia at STRATFOR global intelligence firm.
The three U.S. soldiers were part of a unit that trains Pakistani Frontier Corps responsible for security in areas near the Afghan border seen as part of a global militant hub.
"It was like Doomsday. The roof of the school fell on my child. Dead bodies of soldiers were lying there," said Ghafur Ullah, the father of a schoolgirl wounded in the blast.
