A senior Pakistani Taliban commander has claimed responsibility for Wednesday's deadly suicide attack in the eastern city of Lahore.

Hakimullah Mehsud told news agencies by telephone Thursday that the attack on police and intelligence offices was revenge for the ongoing military offensive in northwestern Pakistan's Swat Valley.

Mehsud is a deputy to Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud. He said Taliban militants plan to attack government buildings in other cities, and warned residents to leave.

Pakistani police officers who survived a Wednesday bombing, sits at hospital in Lahore, 28 May 2009

Officials say suicide attackers in Lahore, using guns and explosives, killed at least 30 people and wounded around 300.

Pakistan's government has already tied the Lahore attack to its Swat military offensive against Taliban fighters and other militants.

The government Thursday offered rewards for information leading to the capture of 21 Taliban-linked militant leaders, dead or alive.

The government took out ads in local newspapers offering bounties for the men, including Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan.  The top reward is about $62,000 for radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah.

Before Mehsud's statement, another little-known group calling itself Tehrik-i-Taliban Punjab had taken responsibility for the Lahore attack, according to a private U.S. group that monitors militant Islamist Web sites. 

The SITE Intelligence Group said the claim was made late Wednesday on Turkish-language Web sites.  The report could not be independently verified. 

Officials on Wednesday said four suspects had been arrested in connection to the Lahore attack.
 
Pakistani armed forces launched their Swat offensive earlier this month after militants violated a peace deal and advanced to within 100 kilometers of the capital, Islamabad.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.