Musharraf targeted in attack

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan -- President Pervez Musharraf narrowly escaped an assassination attempt yesterday when a bomb exploded just seconds after his motorcade had passed by.

"It was certainly a terrorist act, and, certainly, it was me who was targeted," the military leader told reporters shortly after the incident.

Musharraf said the blast hit a bridge "just half a minute or one minute" after his motorcade passed it.

He had just returned from the southern city of Karachi, and the explosion occurred about a mile from Islamabad International Airport, near the neighboring northern city of Rawalpindi, where the military has its headquarters.

Musharraf incensed militant groups by ending support for the Taliban and siding with the US-declared war on terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Militants have been convicted for a previous attempt on the president's life.

"I have been saying that the greatest danger to our nation is not external; it is internal," he said. "It comes from religious and sectarian extremists, and this is a typical example of that. We have to fight all these people with all our might."

Police cordoned off the area and were searching the site along with soldiers. A Reuters photographer said he could see a large crater in the road.

The blast occurred on the same day President Megawati Sukarnoputri of Indonesia arrived in Pakistan on a three-day visit during which she is expected to sign an antiterrorism pact.

Musharraf is a key ally in the US-led war on terror and enjoys sweeping political powers in Pakistan.

He has led a nationwide hunt for Al Qaeda suspects that has netted hundreds of guerrillas, many of whom have been handed over to US custody.

They include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks who was caught in Rawalpindi earlier this year. The hunt goes on for Al Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden, believed by some to be hiding along the Afghan-Pakistan border.

Western diplomats, political commentators, and businessmen agree that Pakistan would be in a vulnerable position if Musharraf is removed from power.

"The main worry I have about Pakistan is that there is no one who can take his place," a leading businessman in Karachi said last week.

Musharraf allowed democratic elections to be held in October 2002 to reestablish a civilian government after he led a bloodless military coup in 1999.

But a promilitary party won, and the prime minister is perceived as weak.

A Karachi court convicted three Islamic militants in October for carrying out a failed assassination attempt on Musharraf last year, handing down 10-year jail terms to each.

The militants belonged to the al-Almi faction of Harkat-ul Mujahideen, a group that is also blamed for masterminding a suicide attack outside the US consulate in Karachi last year in which 12 Pakistanis died.