"The lines have been very clearly drawn between the Pakistani military and the al-Qaeda," retired general Talat Masood told AFP.

"al-Qaeda perceives that the Pakistani army is pursuing the goals of the Americans, so it is targetting the Pakistani army's top leadership and those civilian leaders who are supporting the military government," Masood said.

An al-Qaeda-linked group claimed responsibility for Friday night's suicide bomb attack on prime minister-designate Shaukat Aziz, who narrowly escaped death when the bomber walked up to his car after an election rally and blew himself up.

The attacker struck less than 24 hours after Islamabad announced the arrest of a key suspect in the 1998 east Africa US embassy bombings, the latest prize catch in the booty of 500 al-Qaeda suspects caught by Pakistan and mostly handed over to the US.

"This strike was a message to the Pakistani government, headed by the hypocritical traitor Pervez Musharraf, who is still handing over the Mujahedin to America in order to please her," was the grim message from "Al-Islambouli Brigades, al-Qaeda organisation" on its website.

Aziz, currently finance minister, is a favourite ally of President Musharraf, who was nearly killed twice in attacks in December. General Musharraf says al-Qaeda funded and masterminded the assassination bids, using local militants and junior air force officers as executors.

One of the Pakistani army's top commanders Lieutenant General Ahsan Saleem Hayat survived a massive gun, grenade and bomb attack June 10 by some 14 al-Qaeda trained militants native to Karachi, the southern commercial hub favoured as a hideout for al-Qaeda fugitives.

The world's second largest Muslim country, hemmed by volatile insurgency-wracked borders to its west and east, is a dichotomy.