Al Qaeda probed over Lahore blasts

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- The death toll from twin suicide blasts in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore grew to 28 Wednesday, as police opened an investigation into possible al Qaeda involvement in the attacks.

Lahore police said the offices of the Federal Investigative Agency -- Pakistan's national investigative agency -- had been completely destroyed after two suicide car bombers drove a vehicle into the eight-story building on Tuesday morning.

A third bomber drove a van into a house being used by an advertising agency in a residential area known as Model Town, killing at least three people. Police said at least 175 people were injured in the two bombings. Watch cell phone video of the aftermath »

Asked about possible al Qaeda involvement, provincial police chief Azhar Hasan Nadeem told The Associated Press it was too soon to establish who was responsible for the blasts.

"Of course (al Qaeda) has a huge organization, and they have a very vast network, but it would be premature to pinpoint exactly as to which particular organization is responsible," Nadeem said.

The attacks came as President Pervez Musharraf signed a summary of election results, clearing the final obstacle to lawmakers being sworn into office as a new parliament convenes on Monday.

The move came after the Pakistan People's Party and Pakistan Muslim League-N, which won the majority of National Assembly seats in the February 18 parliamentary election, formed a coalition and called on Musharraf to immediately convene parliament.

PPP, the party of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, is led by her widower Asif Ali Zardari. PML-N is led by former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

On Wednesday an anti-corruption court quashed further graft charges against Zardari relating to alleged kickbacks on a government contract with a Swiss firm secured when Bhutto was in power, AP said.

The court quashed five charges against Zardari last week and is due to rule on one last outstanding charge on Friday, defense attorney Farooq Naek said, AP reported.

Speaking on Tuesday, Musharraf and Caretaker Prime Minister Mohammadmian Soomro strongly condemned the day's bomb attacks.

"The acts of terrorism cannot deter government's resolve to fight the scourge with full force," Musharraf said, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan. Soomro said every effort would be made to catch the culprits and punish them.

Meanwhile, two Pakistani police officers were killed Wednesday when a bomb they were trying to defuse exploded in Pakistan's Swat province, the military said.

Two other officers were wounded.

Police, tipped off to the remote-controlled bomb on a road near Allahabad village, dispatched a bomb disposal squad, a military spokesman said. The dead and wounded officers were part of that squad, he said.

Swat is a volatile region rife with Islamic extremists located in North West Frontier Province, part of Pakistan's tribal region.

Also on Wednesday, a leader of Zardari's PPP said the remains of up to 20 victims of the suicide attack which killed Benazir Bhutto last October would be buried at the former party leader's tomb in a village of her home province of Sindh, AP reported. E-mail to a friend

CNN's Zein Basravi contributed to this report.

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