As the Pakistan military prepares for a major offensive to flush out the Taliban from Waziristan, the militants have escalated their wave of attacks over the past few months, targeting the military and law enforcement facilities, killing hundreds of people.

Terrorists today struck Lahore, storming Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) building and attacking two police training centres in synchronised attacks, triggering fierce exchanges of fire with police that left at least 11 dead and several injured.

At least 10 people were killed and 20 others injured when a suicide bomber targeted a police station in the northwest Pakistani town of Kohat with an explosives-laden vehicle today.

The FIA office that was attacked this morning is located next to another building of the same agency that was targeted by a suicide car bomber in March last year. In that attack, 24 people were killed and scores injured.

The attack on the FIA office appeared similar to a siege on the Pakistan army's headquarters in Rawalpindi on October 10 that left nine attackers and 14 security personnel and civilian employees dead.

The escalation in violence is part of a new trend of terrorists storming the facilities of security agencies. Terrorists had in March this year stormed the police training centre at Manawan, which is located close to the other training facility attacked this morning.

Other Attacks This Year

Pakistan has witnessed a string of suicide attacks over the past two weeks that have killed more than 100 people. The Taliban have claimed responsibility for most of the attacks.

On Oct 12, a suicide bomber threw himself at a passing para-military convoy near a crowded market killing 45 people and wounding 50 in Shangla district in Pakistan's Malakand division.

At least 50 people were killed and 120 injured when a suspected Taliban suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden car in a busy Peshawar market on Oct 9. The blast was the deadliest attack in Pakistan since a suicide bomber targeted a packed mosque near northwestern town of Jamrud in March, killing about 50.

Five persons, including an Iraqi national, were killed and six others injured when a suicide bomber disguised as a security officer struck at the UN food agency's office in the capital on Oct 5.

The bomber, disguised as a paramilitary Frontier Corps personnel, entered the heavily guarded World Food Programme office in Sector F-8 to carry out the attack.

Twelve people were killed when a suicide attacker struck a commercial hub in Peshawar on September 26.

At least 30 people were killed and 65 others injured when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden jeep in a market, crowded with people in a festive mood, in North West Frontier Province's Kohat district on September 18.

The bomber targeted the Kachcha Pucca market at a time when a large number of people had gathered to board coaches to travel to their hometowns for the Eid-ul-Fitr holidays.

The Pakistan Army launched a major operation against the Taliban in Malakand division, which includes the troubled Swat valley, in May. The army claims it has killed over 2,000 militants in the region so far

The local Taliban have vowed to target Pakistani security forces to avenge the killing of its chief Baitullah Mehsud in a US drone attack in August.

A suicide bomber struck a check post manned by security forces in Pakistan's troubled North Waziristan tribal region on Aug 18, killing four persons, including security personnel, and injuring three others.

The attacker drove his explosive-laden car into the check post on the road to Mirali, a key town in North Waziristan Agency.

At least 7 people were killed and a dozen others injured when a bomb planted in a pick-up truck went off in an area in Pakistan's northwest bordering the lawless tribal belt on Aug 17.

The device exploded when the vehicle was in a petrol pump at Shabqadar, a town 70 km from the North West Frontier Province capital of Peshawar.

On Aug 9 two security personnel were killed and four more injured when a security forces convoy heading from Bannu in the North West Frontier Province to Miranshah was targeted with a roadside bomb.

A military campaign in South Waziristan tribal region appears imminent after the escalation in terror strikes by the Taliban.

The government had given the mandate for the operation to the army, amid warning by the Taliban to carry out more attacks if the army launches the operation in the tribal region.