A suicide car bombing targeting Pakistani troops has killed 41 people, the fourth grisly militant attack in just over a week, as the Taliban pledged to mobilise militants across the country for more strikes.
The Taliban also claimed responsibility for the 22-hour weekend attack on the nation's heavily fortified army headquarters, saying a cell from Pakistan's most populous province carried out the raid.
The announcement that a Punjabi faction of the Pakistani Taliban was behind that strike is a sign the insurgents have forged links with militants outside their main strongholds in Pashtun areas close to the Afghan border, increasing their potency.
It came as the army prepared for what will likely be a long and bloody offensive against the major base of the Taliban in the border region of South Waziristan.
In advance of that offensive, the militants have launched a wave of attacks across the country.
In the latest attack, a suicide bomber detonated a car laced with explosives near an army vehicle in the north-west Shangla district, provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said.
The attack killed 41, including six security officers, and wounded 45 other people, he said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
