"If he had not panicked he would have caused bloodshed by throwing grenades and firing at people at the airport arrivals area, where two flights were scheduled to come in."

A policeman injured in the gunbattle, who gave his name as Abdullah, told a private television channel that a "Taliban-type man with a long beard got out of the car when we asked where he was heading for.

"He started running and pulled out two pistols and started firing at us. We retaliated, he was hit, we also were hit, and then he blew himself up."

Pro-Taliban fighters in January vowed to avenge an airstrike on an alleged Al-Qaeda compound in the South Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan, which broke a nearly two-year truce between the government and militants.

"Links are pointing there but we are still investigating," Sherpao said when asked if investigations into the previous attacks had provided leads to militants in the tribal region.

Security was already tight in Islamabad following the recent series of blasts.

A bomber blew himself up at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad on January 26, killing a guard, while a suicide attack the next day in the northwestern city of Peshawar killed 14 people including six police officers.

Another bomber killed a policeman at a checkpost in the tribal town of Dera Ismail Khan on January 29. And a suicide car bomber killed two soldiers in the remote town of Tank on Saturday.

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