VOA常速英语:Attacks on Pakistani Government Sites Kill 39

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Pakistani officials say five attacks on government sites across the country have killed at least 39 people. The latest attack occured late Thursday at a government residential area in Peshawar. Officials say they suspect Taliban militants in the attacks.

Authorities say the situation in the eastern city of Lahore is under control, following separate attacks on the country's Federal Investigation Agency and two police training centers.

Gunmen with at least one suicide jacket stormed the FIA building at mid-morning. The FIA examines matters relating to terrorism and immigration. Early last year, the building was the target of a suicide truck bomb that killed more than 20 people.

Soon after the assault on the FIA began, gunmen targeted two police training centers on the outskirts of Lahore.

In the suburb of Manawa, gunmen targeted a center that militants attacked earlier this year.

In the other incident, attackers with suicide jackets in Bedian climbed over a wall to gain access to the Elite Force Training Center.

It took several hours before security forces were able to gain control of all the sites.

The attacks in Pakistan's east took place hours after a suicide car bomber targeted a police station at a garrison town about an hour's drive from the northwestern city of Peshawar.

Speaking to local media, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said intelligence agencies had expected attacks on security sites in the country and that authorities will remain on high-alert.

He says the recent violence shows the militants want to bring the frontlines from Pakistan's violent northwest to Punjab province.

On Saturday, militants with ties to Punjab, as well as the South Waziristan tribal region, assaulted the Pakistani army's headquarters in Rawalpindi.

Pakistani intelligence officials believe the attacks are a reaction to the military's raids on South Waziristan. The military is expected to launch a full-scale assault on Taliban militants in the region bordering Afghanistan.