Shots fired at Pakistani PM's motorcade

By Augustine Anthony

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Taliban gunmen fired shots at Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani's motorcade near Islamabad's airport on Wednesday, but officials and police said he was not in it at the time.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack days ahead of a presidential election, which is bound to compound the fears of investors and allies, who worry about chronic political instability and Islamist violence in the nuclear-armed country.

Senior police official Rao Mohammad Iqbal said the motorcade was heading to the airport to pick up Gilani when it was attacked. "The car was going towards the airport when it was fired upon from a small hill ... two bullets hit the driver's window," Iqbal said.

Earlier, the prime minister's spokesman, Zahid Bashir, said shots were fired at Gilani's motorcade but he was not hurt.

The prime minister's office said multiple sniper shots had been fired and television pictures showed two bullet marks a couple of inches apart on the cracked bullet-proof window.

Gilani is a senior member of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's party. She was killed in a suicide gun and bomb attack on December 27 while campaigning for a general election.

The government said al Qaeda-linked militants killed her.

Bhutto's party went on to win the February 18 election and Gilani became prime minister of a coalition government.

TALIBAN CLAIM ATTACK

A Pakistani Taliban spokesman said Gilani was attacked because he was responsible for offensives against militants in the northwest.

"We will continue such attacks on government officials and installations," said the militant spokesman, Muslim Khan.

Pakistani Taliban and their al Qaeda allies have unleashed a wave of bomb attacks, including some on political leaders such as Bhutto, over the past year. Hundreds of people have been killed.

Former president Pervez Musharraf, who resigned last month, narrowly survived two bomb attacks blamed on al Qaeda.

Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, who now leads her party and is expected to win a presidential election on Saturday, last week moved from his home in Islamabad into the heavily guarded prime minister's house because of security fears.

British opposition leader David Cameron, who was due to meet Gilani later on Wednesday, alluded to the attack in a speech in Islamabad saying it was "another reminder of the permanent threat that terrorism poses".