Suicide bombers kill 80 in Pakistan as Taliban ‘avenge’ death of 9/11 mastermind Osama Bin Laden

(NYDailyNews) At least 80 people are dead in Pakistan after a pair of suicide bombers blew themselves up in what appears to be the first major militant attack to avenge Osama bin Laden‘s death.

The Taliban immediately claimed responsibility for Friday’s violent assault at a military training facility in Shabqadar, northwest Pakistan.

“We have done this to avenge the Abbottabad incident,” Ahsanullah Ahsan, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, told The Associated Press, referring to the May 1 U.S. raid at Bin Laden’s hideout, about a three hour’s drive from the scene of the bombing.

Nearly all of the dead – and 140 wounded — were military recruits for the Frontier Constabulary, a front-line force in the battle against Al Qaeda.

The attack came in two waves, the first when the cadets boarded a bus to take them home for a weekend. A suicide bomber drove up to the bus and detonated his vest.

“I was sitting in a van waiting for my colleagues. We were in plain clothes and we were happy we were going to see our families,” wounded paramilitary officer Ahmad Ali told AFP.

“I heard someone shouting Allahu Akbar [God is great] and then I heard a huge blast. I was hit by something in my back shoulder.”

As officers tried to help their injured colleagues, a second bomber rode into the scene and detonated his vest.

The scene of bombing –the first major attack since Bin Laden’s death — was littered with glass shards mixed with blood and human flesh.

Ahsan suggested the attack was aimed to also punish Pakistani authorities for failing to stop the 9/11 mastermind’s death.

“The Pakistani army has failed to protect its land,” he said.

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