The attack took place hours after a deadly suicide blast ripped through a parking lot not far from the Pakistani army headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Monday, killing at least 34 people, according to Pakistani medical officials.

Hours later, two suspected militants were killed by a bomb that exploded during a routine vehicle check in the eastern city of Lahore, police said.

They said 15 people were wounded by the blast, three seriously, including several police officers.

Reporting from the twin city of Islamabad, the country’s administrative capital, FRANCE 24’s Stephan Kloss said the earlier blast occurred in a parking lot near a bank and a luxury hotel.

“This entire area is very close to the army headquarters, so this is a very busy commercial area where lots of security personnel and army personnel do their shopping and banking,” said Kloss. “So once again, the army was targeted.”

"This entire area is very close to the army headquarters." - FRANCE 24's Stephen Kloss in Islamabad

According to Rawalpindi city police officials, the suicide bomber in Monday’s attack drove his motorcycle into the parking lot towards a line of bank customers waiting to cash their salaries before detonating his explosives.

Wanted: top Taliban leaders – dead or alive

The attack came as the Pakistani government announced rewards of up to $5 million for information leading to the capture, dead or alive, of Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud and other top militant leaders.

In a front-page advertisement in the leading Pakistani daily, The News, the army promised $600,000 for Mehsud’s capture.

Mehsud’s Tehrik-e-Taliban – or the Pakistani Taliban as it is commonly known – is believed to be responsible for a number of deadly attacks across Pakistan in recent weeks, including last week’s bombing in the north-western city of Peshawar, which killed more than 100 people, among them women and children, in a crowded bazaar.

The plummeting security situation saw the United Nations announce Monday that it was pulling out international staff from the country’s north-west.

All eyes on the Pakistani winter

The Pakistani army has been conducting a major military offensive in the border tribal zone of South Waziristan, a traditional Mehsud stronghold.

Pakistani military spokesmen say the army has captured the village of Kotkai, Mehsud’s birthplace. Quoting Pakistani military officials, the AFP reported that the military was now on the outskirts of Sararogha and Makeen, two other Mehsud strongholds.

“The army says it has now secured a lot of Taliban hideouts and they think they will conclude the operation before the winter sets in,” said Kloss. But, he added, the credibility of the military offensive in South Waziristan depended on whether the army managed to capture top militants.

The fighting in South Waziristan has seen a huge influx of displaced people in the north-western city of Dera Ismail Khan.

“So far, there are about 250,000 refugees that have registered and the UN believes all the refugees will stay (in temporary camps) until March 2010 or definitely at least until the fighting is over,” said Kloss.