Two suspects grilled over Pakistan airport attack

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani investigators on Wednesday quizzed two suspects after an Islamic militant was killed by his own hand grenade in a brazen attack on Islamabad international airport, officials said.

The attack on Tuesday was the fifth in less than two weeks in Pakistan, raising fears that Taliban militants near the Afghan border are trying to embarrass President Pervez Musharraf, a key US ally, for cracking down on their camps.

The two suspects were in a car with the attacker when he jumped out at a car park checkpoint and exchanged gunfire with security forces, injuring three police, officials said.

He then died in the grenade blast.

"Two people arrested at the scene are being interrogated by a joint investigation team," said Saud Aziz, the police chief of Rawalpindi, the city adjoining Islamabad, where the airport is located.

"One of them says that he was just a driver and was hired from Golra More, an Islamabad suburb to go to the airport," he said. 

Investigators were trying to match the bomber's face with police records and had fingerprinted him, he said.

The bearded bomber's corpse, with the legs mangled by the blast, was shown to journalists after the attack. 

Officials hoped the suspects could provide leads to the group behind the attack amid fears the militants were increasingly desperate to send a message to military ruler Musharraf's government.