Pakistanis turning against militants

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Public opinion in Pakistan is turning against militants with the escalating terrorist violence in the country, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said.

"Today when people see that there are innocent people dying, when they see all the major urban centers of Pakistan being hit, when they see that the economy of Pakistan has suffered, and job creation and investment have been compromised because of these extremists, I think the public opinion has changed," Qureshi said, speaking at Houston's Rice University Baker Institute for Public Policy, CNN reported.

His comments came as a suicide bomb attack Monday at the World Food Program office in Islamabad killed five people.

TV ARY News, a private Pakistani channel, reported Tuesday the Taliban claimed responsibility, saying the WFP's work was not in "the interest of Muslims."

In Islamabad, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said terrorist networks in Pakistan are getting dismantled and militants are behaving like an injured snake, Dawn newspaper reported.

The WFP office is in a highly protected area. Malik said the attacker wore a security personnel uniform.

The area is also home to another U.N. office and is near the residence of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, CNN said.