THE PESHAWER NOW FIRE BOLL,GUN BSTTLE,BOMBS...

Two bombs exploded on in a market in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Thursday, killing six people, and gunmen on rooftops ambushed police as they arrived at the scene, officials and witnesses said. The attack came hours after the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for Wednesday's suicide car-bomb and gun attack in the eastern city of Lahore that killed 24 people, saying it was in revenge for an army offensive in the Swat region. Militant violence in nuclear-armed Pakistan, an important U.S. ally, has surged since mid-2007, with numerous attacks on the security forces, as well as on government and Western targets, and the Taliban on Thursday threatened more violence. The bombs were planted on motorbikes and went off in the Storytellers Bazaar in Peshawar's old city causing extensive damage. Six people were killed and about 70 wounded, provincial government minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour told Reuters. Soon afterwards, gunmen on rooftops began firing at police in the narrow lanes below. Television showed pictures of policemen firing back while colleagues strapped on bullet-proof vests. Police later said two gunmen had been killed and two suspects detained. "Two terrorists have been killed but the operation is continuing. We're carrying out searches as others could be hiding," city police chief Sifwat Ghayyur told reporters.