Pakistan has been on high alert ever since the storming of the Red Mosque last week in Islamabad. Tanveer Ahmed Khan, a security expert in Islamabad, said the consequences could be disastrous.

"The situation at the moment is not so bad," he said, "but something like Afghanistan is beginning to happen."

He added that suicide bombings had come from Iraq via Afghanistan and they were a "potent weapon" in the hands of the extremists. He feared things would get worse.

Revenge attacks

Last week, extremist Islamists declared jihad against Musharraf's government. In the first attacks to rock the country, the main target seemed to be the army and paramilitary forces in the lawless tribal areas bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan.

But on Tuesday the situation changed when a civilian anti-government rally in the heart of the capital was attacked. And two days later, a Chinese convoy of engineers in the troubled province of Balochistan in the south-west of the country became the victim.

Some experts fear that with these growing attacks and the military ruler's recent declaration that there is a war going on between extremists and moderates, the stage is being rapidly set for a bloody confrontation.

The US State department issued a report earlier this week revealing that Pakistan had become a safe haven for al-Qaeda militants and warning of more suicide attacks.

Restraint needed

But Jamshed Ayaz Khan, the president of the Institute of Regional Studies in Islamabad says this series of attacks should not be blown out of proportion and the militants in Pakistan could easily be dealt with if there was a will: "The thing is alarming but it is not as bad as being projected by some of the media."

"The government, the people, Islamic scholars and politicians have to join hands against these extremist elements. There have to be deliberate efforts to make right the situation with the limited use of the military and with dialogue. We have to get our act together."

But some experts believe the matter is being used by President Musharraf to garner further support from the US for his dictatorial regime, which met with harsh criticism over his sacking of the Chief Justice in March, and say that a return to democracy would be the only solution.