Boy, 12, blows himself up in Pakistan, killing 31 cadets

A 12-year-old boy in a school uniform blew himself up at a Pakistani army recruitment center Thursday, killing 31 cadets, officials said, in an attack that challenges government assertions that it has weakened militants.

The army has carried out a series of offensives against the al Qaeda-linked Pakistani Taliban movement, which claimed responsibility for the attack, Reuters informs.

Local resident Saleem Amir Khan says he heard the noise of the explosion at 8:00am local time.

"The explosion took place inside the army base," he said.

"Ambulances were coming in and out taking the people who were wounded to hospital."

Pakistani prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has condemned the attack.

"Such cowardly attacks cannot affect the morale of the security agencies and the resolve of the nation to eradicate terrorism," he said, ABC Online reports.