The Pakistani Taliban says it carried out a pair of suicide bombings Wednesday that killed 22 people in southwestern city of Quetta, in retaliation for the recent arrest of an al-Qaida leader.

Two suicide bombers attacked the home of the deputy head of Baluchistan province's paramilitary Frontier Corps. Police say the first attacker detonated his vehicle outside Brigadier Farrukh Shehzad's residence, while a second bomber stormed the house on foot and detonated his explosives.

Shehzad's wife was killed in the attack, as were several of the paramilitary officer's security guards and at least two children. More than 60 other people were injured in the two blasts.

Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told news agencies the militant group carried out the attack “in revenge for the arrests of our brothers in Quetta.”

On Monday, Pakistan's military announced that the Frontier Corps had helped arrest senior al-Qaida leader Younis al-Mauritani and two other al-Qaida operatives in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province.

Mauritani was believed to have been tasked by al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden with targeting economic interests in the United States, Europe and Australia.

Pakistan's military did not say when the arrests were made but said the operation was “planned and conducted with technical assistance of U.S. intelligence agencies.”

The White House on Monday praised the operation as an example of the longstanding partnership between the U.S. and Pakistan in fighting terrorism.