CHARSADDA, Pakistan - Twin explosions struck at a paramilitary force academy in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing at least 80 people in an especially deadly strike that the Pakistani Taliban claimed it carried out to avenge the killing of Osama bin Laden.

The blasts, which happened around 10:40 am (local time), were a reminder of the savagery of al-Qaida-linked militants in Pakistan. They occurred as the country faces international suspicion that elements within its security forces may have been harboring bin Laden, who was killed in a raid in Abbottabad, about three hours' drive from the scene of the bombing.

"We have done this to avenge the Abbottabad incident," Ahsanullah Ahsan, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, told the Associated Press in a phone call. "Also, the Pakistani army has failed to protect its land."