Twin suicide attack kills 53 in Lahore, five low intensity blasts followed

Twin suicide attacks targeting Pakistani military Friday, killed 53 people and 100 injured on Friday in two suicide attacks targeting army vehicles in Pakistan’s central city of Lahore, the capital of Punjab province of Pakistan, unleashing fresh concerns over pro-Taliban militants renewing their effort to target the country’s main population centres.

The bombers targeted the cantonment of Lahore, an area home to army officials and military installations, as well as hospitals and schools run by the military. The area includes civilian homes, shops and restaurants.

Police said that the bombers walked up to Pakistani army vehicles in the densely populated R A Bazaar area of Lahore.

“They blew themselves up as people sat down to eat before the Friday prayers were to begin”, a senior official said.

The second blast took place very near a military vehicle.

“Thirty-nine people were killed and 95 wounded in the attacks,” Tariq Saleem Dogar, the Punjab provincial police chief, told media persons.

“We have collected concrete technical evidence, which will help identify the attackers,” he added.

“We have the heads of both the bombers. There was an interval of 15 seconds between the two attacks. They were on foot. Their target was army vehicles,”added police official Chaudhry Mohammad Shafiq.

The RA Bazaar is a residential and commercial neighborhood where several army and security agencies have facilities.

Aleast five army personnel are among the dead.

The blasts came four days after a suicide car bomber destroyed offices used to interrogate suspected militants in an upmarket district of Lahore.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Lahore has witnessed several terrorist assaults since last year, with most of the attacks targeting government installations and offices of sensitive organizations like the Inter-Services Intelligence and Federal Investigation Agency.

Other parts of the country have also been rocked by such attacks since the military launched a massive operation against the Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan in October last year.

Meanwhile five more blasts followed the twin suicide bombing. These low intensity blasts occurred within 45 minutes in busy moon market, Allama Iqbal Town of Lahore.

The first blast occurred in an empty plot near crowded Moon Market in Kashmir Block. The second blast hit a car parked outside a house. The third blast occurred near Edhi Center in Kashmir Block located in Iqbal Town while fourth blast outside the residence of a serving DSP and fifth struck Karim Block in the same town.

These low intensity blasts followed by the earlier twin suicide blasts killing 39 people, appear to be an attempt to create panic.

- Asian Tribune -