A Pakistani guard at the American Center was wounded, but no Americans were hurt, a US official said. The rockets, fired within a two-minute span over several kilometers in the center of the capital, caused no major damage, officials said. The blasts occurred two days before a UN deadline for the Taliban militia leadership in Afghanistan to turn over suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden for trial.

Pakistani Interior Ministry officials said that immediate suspicions focused on bin Laden. But in an official statement, the Foreign Office condemned "these acts of terrorism" without naming bin Laden or the Taliban leadership. Musharraf told The Associated Press he had no immediate comment on the identity of the attackers. He said an investigation was underway and "we have just initiated some actions." "This is something which has happened, and it is quite serious," Musharraf said.

"These are rockets fired from cars by unidentified people who have managed to flee," said a senior city official, Deputy Commissioner Hamid Ali Khan. All of the explosions struck some distance from the buildings in relatively uncrowded places, including an area a half a kilometer from Parliament and its adjacent President House. Police had said seven rockets were fired, but corrected it later Friday to six.

Khan said two charred vehicles with fake licence plates, found near the embassy and the American Center, were used in the attack, but the total number of vehicles was not known. The recovered vehicles contained rocket launchers and explosives, and one bore a fake number plate from a UN agency, Khan said. He said the attackers apparently destroyed the cars before fleeing. There was no claim of responsibility for the blasts.

The US Embassy advised Americans in Pakistan to use caution. Lee James Irvin, an embassy spokesman, said there were no plans to evacuate embassy staff. A senior official in the Pakistan Interior Ministry told the AP, ''These explosions are a warning to the Pakistan military leadership that if they cooperate with America against Osama there could be even worse violence."

Hundreds of people gathered outside the American center to watch a car burning there. A blackened rocket launcher could be seen inside it, and witnesses reported seeing rockets fired from cars. Behind the US Embassy the car bearing fake UN plates burned.

"I saw the car jump five to 10 meters after the blast, but luckily no one was close to it," said witness Anjum Ahmed. Police and paramilitary troops patrolled the streets and searched vehicles. They erected barricades and pushed away onlookers, fearing more explosions. Sirens wailed from police cars, ambulances and fire trucks racing through the streets. Plumes of smoke rose from several directions. Security at airports was tightened and all departing passengers were thoroughly checked and questioned.

Mohammad Asghar adds: A series of rocket explosions rocked the federal capital on Friday, targeting the US embassy, the American Cultural Center and the UN office. Two other rockets hit the old prime minister's secretariat and a parked car of a United Nation official causing damage to them while another rocket landed near Punjab house.

One of the rockets which remained unexploded after hitting a parked car of a UN official Jack Collignon in sector G-6/3 was taken into possession by police. "It was 28 inches long rocket which was found unexploded from the UN official's car. But there was no make on it," Nasir Khan Durrani SSP Islamabad told reporters at a briefing.

Double-barrel rockets were fired by launchers placed in unclaimed vehicles in the heart of Islamabad. Three such vehicles were burnt as they caught fire. Buildings hit by rockets were damaged along with cars in the parking. The main target of terrorists apparently seems to be the US installations.

"It seems that the US Embassy and the United States Information Service were the targets of the attack but we cannot hold anybody responsible unless there is an ample evidence to substantiate the charge," PPI news agency quoted an American officials as saying. The agency also reported that Islamabad police has registered FIR of the incidents of rocket fire and explosions in the respective police stations and investigation is under way.

Police have launched a special campaign against the suspicious vehicles, vehicles with tinted glasses and anti-social elements. Officials said rockets used in the attacks looked crude in shape and were apparently locally manufactured, but they could not tell any thing more about their make.

Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Hamid Ali said: "What happened today seems to be foreign-sponsored and there is an external hand in it." But he said situation would become clear after investigations were complete.

Eyewitnesses described the rockets hitting the ground in the rear of the US Embassy and close to American center as 15 inches in length and about five inches in diameter. Bomb disposal experts shifted some of such rockets to laboratory.

After preliminary evidence, police said that three vehicles, one car and two jeeps were used in the terrorist attack and these were left abandoned near the United States Information and Cultural Centre, Saudi Pak tower (which is on the main avenue, Blue Area of the capital) and the diplomatic enclave.

Fired apparently through remote system, rockets traveled a distance as far as 1000 meters to hit targets but were a little off the mark as far as the US Embassy and cultural offices were located.

Rockets, which police and eyewitnesses frequently named "missiles" hit the World Food Programme offices, the rear of Punjab House along the Margalla hills, and the World Food Programme near Melody chowk. Rockets also landed in deserted areas of the capital, which averted what otherwise, might have been serious damage.

The area where the rockets landed has some government offices but most of the private offices are located in the Blue Area, which is capital's well-established shopping center on the main avenue.

Several offices were closed as panic gripped the capital when police vehicles blowing sirens raced on Islamabad roads followed by fire engines, ambulances and other vehicles carrying experts of bomb disposal.

The blasts occurred within minutes immediately after the clock struck 11 in the morning. While two explosions occurred near the US embassy and the American center, another one damaged a United Nations car a few kilometers away as a rocket landed over the vehicle in the parking of the World Food Programme.

Shortly afterwards, another blast occurred on the main capital road, a few kilometers away from the US embassy where a vehicle caught fire near the Saudi Pak tower. Eyewitnesses found in the inflamed vehicle what police later said was a rocket launching pad.

Rockets also fell close to the wall of the World Bank in Islamabad as also near a government building named National Database Organization (NDO). A section of the marble wall of NDO was broken. The NDO has records of census data with senior military officials as in charge of the project.

Police said they received anonymous calls threatening more blasts later in the day and even during the next few days. Heavy contingents of police have been deployed around the diplomatic enclave and the US embassy and information centre.

According to local police the first explosion followed by blaze happened in an abandoned Honda Civic car bearing registration plate IDH-8639 a few kilometers from the American Center in Blue area. An eye witness Ghazanfar Ali said, "first the explosion occurred and shortly the two rockets were fired from the car. One of the rockets was hit to the iron grill of the compound wall of the Center but it was deflected and fell on some other place.

ISLAMABAD: The United States Ambassador in Pakistan, William B Milam called on the Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf here on Friday and exchanged views on matters of mutual interest. This is the second meeting of the US Ambassador with General Musharraf. He had called on the CE on October 15, 1999 shortly after returning frm Washington.

KABUL: A powerful bomb explosion in a car of a senior Taliban leader killed its driver and injured two others in the Kabul on Friday. Car of the former Taliban information minister Amir Khan Muttaqi was exploded when a device planted in the car went off outside the city's Wazi Akbar Khan mosque. Muttaqi was about to reach the car after offering Friday prayers in the mosque. However, he escaped unhurt as he was a few yards away from the venue of the blast. The car was totally destroyed. No one has yet to claim the responsibility. Muttaqi told reporters in Kabul that it was an act of anti-Islam and anti-Afghanistan elements. He said the Khateeb of the mosque prolonged 'Dua' and that was why he did not reach the car early.