Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility on Thursday for a suicide gun and bomb attack in the city of Lahore the previous day that killed 24 people and wounded nearly 300.

"We have achieved our target. We were looking for this target for a long time. It was a reaction to the Swat
operation," a militant commander, Hakimullah Mehsud, told Reuters by telephone from undisclosed location, referring to an army offensive in the Swat region.