The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Islamabad

Hours after a suicide attack killed eight people, Pakistan's prime minister said in an Independence Day speech Thursday that the country must defeat extremism to survive.

As investigators sifted through the bloodied attack site in the eastern city of Lahore, Yousuf Raza Gilani admitted Pakistan "is passing through a difficult phase."

"We have to fight back the challenges of terrorism and extremism," the premier told an audience in the nation's capital, Islamabad. "The war against terrorism and extremism is the war of our own survival. With the people's cooperation we will fight this war and ensure the government's writ at all costs." At least 18 people also were wounded in the Lahore attack, which occurred just before midnight Wednesday as Pakistanis poured into the streets to celebrate the nation's 61st anniversary of its independence from Britain.