Russian troops have been in control of the port of Poti

Russia has told Nato it is halting all military co-operation, the bloc says, as the crisis over Georgia deepens.

The Russian move follows a statement by Nato that there would be no "business as usual" with Moscow unless its troops pulled out of Georgia.

However, the alliance had stopped short of freezing co-operation with Moscow.

Meanwhile, a top Russian general said that the withdrawal of the bulk of Russia’s troops would be complete in about 10 days.

Gen Vladimir Boldyrev, commander of the Russian ground forces in the region, referred to the pullout of troops "sent to reinforce Russian peacekeepers" in Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia.

It was not immediately clear how Gen Boldyrev’s comments would fit in with a previous Russian commitment to withdraw its forces to behind a buffer zone around South Ossetia by the end of Friday.

Moscow has said it intends to keep some 500 troops in what it called a "zone of responsibility" as part of a peacekeeping mission.

In a separate development, South Ossetia and Abkhazia - another Georgian breakaway region - held mass rallies calling for independence.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow’s response to their pleas would depend on the conduct of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.

Lavrov’s warning

Nato spokeswoman Carmen Romero said the alliance "takes note" of Russia’s decision to halt co-operation but had no further reaction to it.

Speaking to reporters in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, Mr Lavrov said Russia was not going "shut any doors" to future co-operation with Nato.

But he warned that the alliance had to decide what was more important to it - supporting Mr Saakashvili or developing a partnership with Russia.

"It all depends not on us but on those who make the decisions on what the priorities are for the leaders of Nato in foreign policy," Mr Lavrov said.

Washington played down the significance of the Russian move, saying Nato had already effectively frozen co-operation in protests at Moscow’s continuing military presence in Georgia.

"For all practical purposes, military-to-military co-operation had really already ended with the Russians," US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

Under the 2002 agreement that set up the Nato-Russia Council, the former adversaries began several co-operation projects.

These included allowing Nato to transport by land through Russia non-military supplies for the bloc’s operation in Afghanistan, developing battlefield anti-missile technology, joint military exercises and help with rescue at sea.

Security zone

It is still not clear to what extent Russian military forces have withdrawn from Georgia.

Russian TV showed a huge crowd at the rally in Abkhazia

Russian news agencies say an armoured column, consisting of more than 40 vehicles, has passed through South Ossetia, on its way to the Russian border.

A BBC correspondent in the Georgian village of Igoeti, just 35km (21 miles) from the capital Tbilisi, said he saw the Russian military pulling back towards South Ossetia early on Thursday afternoon. Russian forces were also reported to be still dug in around Georgia’s main Black Sea port of Poti.

Russia poured troops into Georgia after Georgian forces tried to retake South Ossetia on 7 August. Russian-led peacekeeping troops had been deployed there since a war in the early 1990s.

Thousands of people attended pro-independence rallies in the Abkhaz capital Sukhumi and war-ravaged South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali on Thursday.

At least 63 people have been killed and dozens injured in twin suicide bombings outside Pakistan’s main munitions factory in the town of Wah, police say.

The attack is the deadliest on a military site in Pakistan’s history.

Police say one man is in custody for the attack, which occurred some 30km (18 miles) north-west of Islamabad.

A spokesman for the Pakistani Taleban said they had carried out the attacks, which he said were a response to army violence in the country’s north-west.

In pictures: Factory bombings

Speaking to the BBC, Maulvi Umar of the Tehrik-e-Taleban Pakistan said the bombings in Wah were in retaliation for the deaths of "innocent women and children" in the tribal area of Bajaur.

He said more attacks would take place in Pakistan’s major urban conurbations unless the army withdrew from the tribal areas.

Pakistani Prime Minister Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani promised to punish the perpetrators.

US President Bush later telephoned Mr Gilani to pledge his support in tackling what he called terrorist attacks.

The leaders "reaffirmed their mutual support for going after these extremists that are a threat to Pakistan, the United States and the entire world," a White House spokesman said.

Wah is a strategically important town normally under heavy security as it is home to a large industrial complex producing conventional arms and ammunition, correspondents say.

‘Great suffering’

The first blast took place outside the gate of the factory as workers were leaving work during a shift change.

Minutes later, another blast took place at a market nearby another gate of the same factory.

Local police chief Nasir Khan Durrani told the BBC: "Many others have been injured and we expect casualties to rise."

Mr Durrani said none of the dead were military personnel.

Mohid Ahmed, a student from Wah, was on a tour of the ordnance factories and witnessed the immediate aftermath of the blast from his bus.

"There was smoke, bodies and blood," he told the BBC.

"Those who were left alive were in great suffering. I saw a man clutching his leg and crying in pain and asking for help."

Army crackdown

On Tuesday, 32 people were killed in a suicide attack on a hospital in the northern town of Dera Ismail Khan.

The BBC’s Syed Shoaib Hasan says it is the second recent direct attack on a Pakistani military installation.

Last September, 17 officers and soldiers were killed in a suicide attack on a special forces base in the nearby town of Tarbela-Ghazi.

The ordnance factories at Wah lie on the road into Pakistan’s troubled north-west, where fighting between security forces and Islamic militants has raged in recent weeks.

Established in the early 1950s, it is a sprawling complex manufacturing everything from tanks and small arms to artillery shells.

Militants have often threatened to increase the level of violence unless the army pulls back from tribal areas close to the border with Afghanistan.

Pakistani politicians are, however, currently more preoccupied with political issues after the resignation of President Pervez Musharraf on Monday, the BBC’s Charles Haviland in Islamabad says.

Mr Musharraf, a key ally of President Bush’s "war on terror" stepped down after nine years in power to avoid being impeached.

At least 63 people have been killed and dozens injured in twin suicide bombings outside Pakistan’s main munitions factory in the town of Wah, police say.

The attack is the deadliest on a military site in Pakistan’s history.

Police say one man is in custody for the attack, which occurred some 30km (18 miles) north-west of Islamabad.

A spokesman for the Pakistani Taleban said they had carried out the attacks, which he said were a response to army violence in the country’s north-west.

In pictures: Factory bombings

Speaking to the BBC, Maulvi Umar of the Tehrik-e-Taleban Pakistan said the bombings in Wah were in retaliation for the deaths of "innocent women and children" in the tribal area of Bajaur.

He said more attacks would take place in Pakistan’s major urban conurbations unless the army withdrew from the tribal areas.

Pakistani Prime Minister Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani promised to punish the perpetrators.

US President Bush later telephoned Mr Gilani to pledge his support in tackling what he called terrorist attacks.

The leaders "reaffirmed their mutual support for going after these extremists that are a threat to Pakistan, the United States and the entire world," a White House spokesman said.

Wah is a strategically important town normally under heavy security as it is home to a large industrial complex producing conventional arms and ammunition, correspondents say.

‘Great suffering’

The first blast took place outside the gate of the factory as workers were leaving work during a shift change.

Minutes later, another blast took place at a market nearby another gate of the same factory.

Local police chief Nasir Khan Durrani told the BBC: "Many others have been injured and we expect casualties to rise."

Mr Durrani said none of the dead were military personnel.

Mohid Ahmed, a student from Wah, was on a tour of the ordnance factories and witnessed the immediate aftermath of the blast from his bus.

"There was smoke, bodies and blood," he told the BBC.

"Those who were left alive were in great suffering. I saw a man clutching his leg and crying in pain and asking for help."

Army crackdown

On Tuesday, 32 people were killed in a suicide attack on a hospital in the northern town of Dera Ismail Khan.

The BBC’s Syed Shoaib Hasan says it is the second recent direct attack on a Pakistani military installation.

Last September, 17 officers and soldiers were killed in a suicide attack on a special forces base in the nearby town of Tarbela-Ghazi.

The ordnance factories at Wah lie on the road into Pakistan’s troubled north-west, where fighting between security forces and Islamic militants has raged in recent weeks.

Established in the early 1950s, it is a sprawling complex manufacturing everything from tanks and small arms to artillery shells.

Militants have often threatened to increase the level of violence unless the army pulls back from tribal areas close to the border with Afghanistan.

Pakistani politicians are, however, currently more preoccupied with political issues after the resignation of President Pervez Musharraf on Monday, the BBC’s Charles Haviland in Islamabad says.

Mr Musharraf, a key ally of President Bush’s "war on terror" stepped down after nine years in power to avoid being impeached.