A suicide bomber has attacked the UN World Food Programme (WFP) offices in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, killing at least three people.

Reports from the city say two of the dead are local women and the third is an Iraqi man.

The blast came just a day after the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban promised fresh attacks to retaliate against the US missile strikes in the northwest, one of which killed their leader Baitullah Mehsud.

As yet it is not confirmed who attacked the UN offices, but the suspicion is the Taliban are responsible.

Today’s bomb, which injured several people, went off in the reception of the building, raising questions over the security of the WFP.

The BBC report interior minister Rehman Malik as sayings the bomber was dressed in a frontier corps uniform and asked to go inside to use the toilet.

Mr Malik said the attack would not "slacken the resolve" of Pakistan’s efforts to counter the Taliban.

The WFP said three of its staff members had been confirmed dead and several others had been injured – two were in a critical condition.

"This is a terrible tragedy for WFP, and for the whole humanitarian community in Pakistan," said WFP deputy executive director, Amir Abdulla, speaking from the UN agency’s headquarters in Rome.

"Our deepest condolences go to the family, friends and colleagues of those who died or were injured in this incident. These were people working to assist the poor and the vulnerable on the frontlines of hunger in Pakistan."

As part of an emergency relief programme, WFP has been providing vital food assistance to as many as two million Pakistani civilians displaced by conflict in the Swat Valley region.

In recent months, many of the displaced have started returning to their home villages.

Popularity: unranked [?]