‘They were obviously trained, it’s the same pattern as in Mumbai’

A senior Pakistani official said there were similarities with the Mumbai terrorist attacks in November, in which at least 188 people were killed and which the Indian government accused Lashkar of masterminding.

"I want to say it's the same pattern, the same terrorists who attacked Mumbai," said Salman Taseer, governor of central Punjab province.

"They are trained criminals. They were not common people. The kind of weaponry they had, the kind of arms they had, the way they attacked — they were not common citizens, they were obviously trained."

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Lashkar, which was also accused of a 2001 assault on the Indian Parliament which nearly led to war, has been linked to Islamist terrorism worldwide.

The group, which was set up to fight Indian forces in Kashmir, has widened its activities since it was banned by Pakistan's government in 2002.

Until then, Lashkar — whose name translates as "Soldiers of the Pure" — had not been involved in sectarian attacks inside Pakistan, but the curbs led to a breakaway faction adopting a more aggressive strategy.

Even if suspicions of Lashkar's involvement in today's attacks prove to be unfounded, the reality remains that Pakistan is becoming increasingly unstable and difficult to police.

The North West Frontier Province, which borders Afghanistan, has come under the control of hardline Islamist groups and, in a sign of the growing problems, the Pakistan government was forced to strike a peace deal with Taliban militants in the area's Swat Valley, a former tourist haven, permitting the introduction of Sharia law.

The bombing of Islamabad's Marriott Hotel last September and the 2007 assassination of Pakistan Peoples Party leader Benazir Bhutto are further illustrations of Pakistan's growing turmoil. At the root of the problem lies the conflict in Afghanistan, which has led to many al Qaeda and Taliban militants taking to the border region.

Worryingly, with President Obama ordering deeper American involvement in Afghanistan — and a more aggressive strategy of raids inside Pakistan against extremists — there is little sign that the instability which lies behind today's attack will ease.