A young man walked up to a checkpoint at the entrance to the complex and detonated his explosives when challenged by security forces. The blast scattered body parts across the busy city centre road, police and witnesses said.

Islamist insurgents frequently target military installations and attacks have intensified as Islamabad pursues a fierce military offensive, under Western pressure to do more to eliminate Taliban and Al-Qaeda sanctuaries.

Wednesday's blast came after US President Barack Obama announced he was sending 30,000 more troops to battle the Taliban in Afghanistan, and said that success in the war there depended on Pakistan's own fight against extremism.

Fazeel Asghar, the city authorities' top administrative official, told reporters that a man aged around 17 or 18 and wearing a suicide jacket approached the heavily-guarded naval complex on foot.

"Security officials checked him and one navy police constable, Mohammad Ashraf, asked him to take off his coat. The bomber then blew himself up and the navy constable died in the blast," he said.

Navy spokesman Captain Mubeen Bajwa said security guards stopped the bomber after a taxi driver complained about his suspicious behaviour.

"A total of 11 people were injured, including five soldiers of the Pakistan navy and six civilians. One of them is critically injured," he said.

Witnesses described the scene in the aftermath of the blast, which shattered car windows and left blood streaked across the road: "I was in a nearby street when I heard a loud explosion," said witness Imtiaz Ali.

"When I reached the main Margalla Road there was smoke near the navy complex. I saw three soldiers lying wounded."

President Asif Ali Zardari strongly condemned the suicide attack, saying that "such incidents would not deter the government's resolve to fight terrorism and extremism from the country", a government statement said.

The attack came a day after a Pakistani provincial lawmaker was killed in a suicide attack in the northwestern valley of Swat, and as Taliban insurgents have intensified attacks to avenge the military's multi-pronged offensive.

The military are a frequent target: a brazen raid and hostage siege at the army headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi in October hit the heart of the country's most powerful establishment.

Islamabad itself was last hit in late October, when twin suicide blasts tore through the International Islamic University, killing up to five people.

Security has drastically deteriorated in Pakistan since Islamabad joined the US-led "war on terror" and hundreds of Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants fled into the tribal belt after the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.

More than 2,570 people have been killed in suicide blasts and attacks here since July 2007, when the insurgency intensified.

Islamabad has this year launched multiple offensives against the Taliban across the country's northwest, sparking a wave of retaliatory suicide bombings, but its Western allies are urging the administration to do more.

Laying out his new Afghan strategy late Tuesday, Obama vowed to start a withdrawal of troops from the war-torn nation in July 2011.

He praised Pakistan's operations in South Waziristan, but indicated that pressure would remain on Islamabad.

"We will strengthen Pakistan's capacity to target those groups that threaten our countries, and have made it clear that we cannot tolerate a safe-haven for terrorists whose location is known, and whose intentions are clear," he said.

Washington and London have expressed concern that militants hide out in Pakistan's mountainous and lawless border regions, regrouping and training before slipping over the border to target foreign forces.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday pledged an "enduring" US and allied commitment to Afghanistan and Pakistan, adding Washington that would also significantly expand support to Pakistan.

"It should be clear to everyone that -- unlike the past -- the United States and our allies and partners have an enduring commitment to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the region," Clinton told US lawmakers.

She added: "We will significantly expand support intended for Pakistan to develop the potential of their people."

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