At least 26 people have been killed – many of them police officers – after a suicide bomber on a motorcycle struck in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore. Another 54 people were injured after the bombing near a group of police guarding a demolition site at Kot Lakhpat vegetable market on the outskirts of the city. Senior police officer Haider Ashraf said it was initially believed that the bomb had been detonated in a car, but it was later discovered that the vehicle belonged to a police officer who was among the dead. Many of the wounded are policemen, with several bystanders also injured in the blast. Mr Ashraf added that a high-rise building housing important information technology offices is situated near the blast site, but the apparent target of the bombing was the police gathering. The outlawed militant group Tehrik-e-Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack, confirming they used a suicide bomber on a motorcycle. (eveningexpress.co.uk)
According to Rescue 1122, nine policemen are among those who lost their lives in the blast. The area where the explosion occurred is a busy locality near the office of Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The chief minister was in a meeting at his Model Town office when the blast took place. “Police and Lahore Development Authority officials were busy in removing encroachments outside the Arfa Karim Tower, located near the CM’s Model Town residence when a powerful blast took place,” Rescue 1122 Jam Sajjad told the Daily Pakistan. Three motorcycles and at least one vehicle have been reported damaged in the explosion. The identities of the victims have not yet been ascertained as of yet. Lahore’s Metro Bus also passes near the IT tower. Police and other law enforcement personnel reached the site of the incident and cordoned off the area. Forensics teams started collecting evidence from the blast site, after which the nature of explosion will be confirmed. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the Lahore suicide blast and voiced grief and sorrow over the loss of lives. (iran-daily.com)
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said the majority of those killed and wounded were police and warned the death toll could rise. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the blast in a statement and "directed for extending best possible medical treatment for the injured". In early April, a suicide attack on an army census team killed at least six people and wounded 18 in Lahore. (gdnonline.com)