Islamist militants armed with guns, grenades and suicide car bombs targeted the US consulate in Pakistan's northwestern capital on Monday and hit a political rally, killing 45 people.
The attacks in quick succession were among the deadliest so far this year in nuclear-armed Pakistan, where insecurity has raised concerns in the United States as Washington steps up the fight in Afghanistan and against Al-Qaeda.
Pakistan's Taliban claimed responsibility for the consulate attack, claiming it was to avenge a US drone war targeting top militants in Pakistan's border areas with Afghanistan, and threatened further assaults on Americans.
The ability of heavily-armed militants to get so close to the US mission and other military installations, such as the provincial headquarters of Pakistan's premier spy agency, will likely rattle the US and Pakistani governments.
At least four militants armed with explosives and two cars rigged into bombs targeted the heavily guarded US consulate in Peshawar, a city of 2.5 million on the edge of Pakistan's lawless tribal belt, setting off multiple explosions.
The United States condemned the "terrorist" attack, saying at least two Pakistani security guards employed by the consulate were killed and a number of others were seriously wounded.
"The coordinated attack involved a vehicle suicide bomb and terrorists attempting to enter the building using grenades and weapons fire," said the US embassy in Islamabad
Police said two car bombs exploded -- at a checkpoint 50 metres (yards) from the mission and the second laden with about 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of explosives close to the consulate gate, followed by an exchange of fire.
Peshawar city police chief Liaquat Ali said that eight people were killed -- four militants, two paramilitary soldiers, a policeman and a civilian.
"We don't know how many people were in the vehicles. The vehicles were blown to pieces," he told reporters.
The security barrier near the US consulate gate was damaged, and shells from rocket-propelled grenades and hand grenades were left flying in the area, which was sealed off by Pakistani police and army.
"The miscreants are trying to spread panic among people in a desperate attempt to undermine the governmentâ�s operation against terrorists," said Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
Anti-Americanism is rife in Pakistan, where US missile strikes that have killed more than 830 people since August 2008 have surged under President Barack Obama as he steps up efforts to end the war in Afghanistan.
"We accept the attacks on the American consulate. This is revenge for drone attacks," Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Azam Tariq told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.
"We will carry out more such attacks. We will target any place where there are Americans," he said.
Peshawar lies on the edge of Pakistan's tribal belt -- branded by Washington a global headquarters of Al-Qaeda.
Around 3,200 people have been killed in suicide and bomb attacks over the last three years in Pakistan, blamed on militants opposed to the US alliance.
On Monday, a suicide bomber attacked an open-air rally in the northwest district of Lower Dir, where Pakistan waged a major offensive against local Taliban insurgents last year.
The attack killed 41 people during a celebration organised by the leading secular political party in northwest and was the deadliest in Lower Dir since the anti-Taliban offensive.
"Forty-one people have been killed and 82 others wounded," Qazi Jamil, police chief for the northwestern region of Malakand, told AFP, saying it had been a suicide car bomb attack.
Residents reportedly said the bomb exploded close to the stage at the political gathering.
The Awami National Party (ANP) said it organised the meeting to celebrate plans to rename North West Frontier Province -- Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, as laid out in a package of constitutional reform being debated in the federal parliament.
The new name honours the Pashtun-majority population in the province, replaces a name that dates back to British colonial rule and is part of efforts to devolve greater authority to the provinces.
Lower Dir borders Pakistan's lawless tribal belt, where suspected Taliban armed with petrol bombs and rockets torched eight tankers used to supply fuel to NATO forces in Afghanistan before dawn on Monday, officials said.
Under US pressure, Pakistan has in the past year significantly increased operations against militants in its tribal belt.
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