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Police and bomb disposal squad members examine the bomb site in Karachi

 Speaking just hours after the blast, General Musharraf called the bombing an attempt to weaken his country's resolve to fight terrorism.

 The blast killed 11 French nationals, three Pakistanis and the bomber in the parking area of a hotel. Police and witnesses say the blast gutted a bus and left body parts strewn over a wide area. Ten other Pakistanis and 12 foreigners were wounded.

 Pakistani intelligence officials told the Associated Press that al-Qaeda terrorists may have been involved in the bombing.

 That view is shared by the French army's chief of staff, General Jean-Pierre Kelche. He says al-Qaeda involvement is likely. French President Jacques Chirac has dispatched his defense minister to Pakistan to help investigate the bombing.

 The United States strongly condemned the attack, calling it a "heinous" action against France and Pakistan, two of its closest allies in the global war on terrorism.

 Speaking on national television, President Musharraf offered condolences to France and to the families of two Pakistanis killed in the blast. He vowed the attack would be met with the full force of his government.

 The French nationals who died in the blast were working on a submarine project with the Pakistani Navy in Karachi.

 There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack. The bombing prompted the visiting New Zealand cricket team to cancel its Pakistan tour and return home. The New Zealanders were across the street from the blast site preparing to board a bus when the explosion occurred.

 The Karachi bombing is the second this year targeting foreign nationals in Pakistan. In March, a grenade attack on an international Protestant church in Islamabad killed five people, including an American embassy worker and her daughter.
 
 

Some information for this report provided by Reuters.

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