PAKISTAN MOSQUE MASSACRE BY TALIBAN

Updated: Saturday, December 5th 2009, 9:40 a.m

Pakistani soldiers rush to the scene of a suicide attack at a mosque in Rawalpindi that left at least 35 dead.

A Taliban suicide squad targeted Pakistan military officers and their families praying at a mosque close to army headquarters in a gruesome display of the militants' ability to strike at the center of power in the U.S.-allied, nuclear-armed nation.

The barrage of bombs and bullets Friday left 37 people dead, including seven senior officers and 17 children.

The deaths of so many top brass inside a heavily fortified area a few miles (kilometers) from the capital was a major coup for the Pakistani insurgents, who are under pressure as the army pushes an offensive against their stronghold of South Waziristan along the Afghan border.

The carnage also dramatized the risks Pakistan faces if it steps up its support for the United State in the war against Islamic extremists on its side of the border with Afghanistan.

President Barack Obama believes Pakistan is a key partner in that war, but critics contend that Pakistan, hedging its bets in the event the Taliban eventually regain power in Kabul, has held back against Afghan insurgents who use the lawless border region as a safe haven.

The attack on the mosque, which was largely reserved for military families, was the latest in a relentless Taliban onslaught against mostly military targets across Pakistan. It came nearly two months after the brazen siege of the army headquarters on Oct. 10, when insurgents held dozens hostage in a 22-hour standoff that left 23 people dead including nine militants.

By targeting a packed mosque during Friday prayers, the militants showed they cared little about igniting a possible backlash in the overwhelmingly Muslim country. Authorities urged clerics who had so far avoided publicly criticizing the militants to do so.

The attack began shortly after 1:30 p.m. when the assailants lobbed hand grenades to break through a checkpoint close to the mosque, said Yasir Nawaz, police official at the scene.

Witnesses said two of the militants then stormed the mosque, while at least two others ran into buildings nearby.

They wore suicide belts under traditional baggy Pakistani clothes, lobbed grenades and sprayed automatic weapons at worshippers.

"They were killing people like animals," witness Nasir Ali Sheikh said. "Whoever they saw they shot at. They were well trained and moved very quickly."

Security forces exchanged fire with the assailants for an hour, killing them or watching them blow themselves up.

The dead in Friday's attack included a major general, a brigadier, a colonel, two lieutenant colonels, one major and a retired major as well as three regular soldiers, military spokesman Maj.Gen.Athar Abbas said. Seventeen children — 11 of them army kids — and 10 civilians also were killed.