0
Saturday 13 March 2010 - 07:59

Explosions in Lahore

Story Code : 21880
Army soldiers cordon off the area of bombing in Lahore. Panic fripped Lahore after it was rocked by a twin-suicide attack that killed at least 50 people, followed by a series of low-intensity explosions.
Army soldiers cordon off the area of bombing in Lahore. Panic fripped Lahore after it was rocked by a twin-suicide attack that killed at least 50 people, followed by a series of low-intensity explosions.
Islam Times reports from Dawn: Panic and fear gripped Lahore on Friday after it was rocked by a twin-suicide attack that killed at least 50 people, followed by a series of low-intensity explosions that made a mockery of the security apparatus.

Two suicide bombers struck in R.A. Bazaar area of the cantonment in the afternoon, killing 50 people, including eight soldiers, and injuring around 120 others. Then in the evening, six blasts shook Allama Iqbal Town and Samanabad.

According to police, the explosions were intended to terrorise an already rattled populace. A seventh blast reported from the same area was caused, according to police, by an electricity transformer which blew up because of some technical fault.

The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the suicide attacks.

An FIR of the R.A. bazaar blasts registered by the cantonment police at night put the number of dead between 50 and 60 and the injured at 120.

Cantonment SP Jawad Qamar said that scattered limbs had made it difficult to give an exact toll and to identity the dead.

The R.A. Bazaar attacks were almost simultaneous and took place close to a busy market minutes before Friday prayers.

According to officials of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), personnel of the Army’s Garrison Security Force (GSF) were hit when they were on their way to a mosque for carrying out security duties during Friday congregations.

As the site of the attack was close to a bus terminal and a busy market, many shoppers and passers-by were caught by the impact of the attacks. More than 35 civilians were killed, among them women and children. Eight soldiers lost their lives and 12 others suffered injuries.

Two vehicles of the GSF and several cars and motorcycles were destroyed. Windowpanes and doors in the surrounding areas came apart.

The bombers, who were said to be on foot, managed to reach the R.A. Bazaar in spite of a thick blanket of security, including some military pickets.

Since it is a cantonment area, the bazaar is near sensitive military offices and installations. The two attacks occurred within three minutes of each other.

The military personnel and police cordoned off the place and did not give media and citizens access to the scene. After the explosions, an army helicopter hovered over the area for some time.

Senior Superintendent of Police (operations) Chaudhry Shafiq Ahmad told Dawn that police had found heads of both the suicide bombers, who appeared to be teenagers, at some distance from the spot and sent them to the forensic laboratory.

He said the bombers wore suicide jackets which carried 10 kilograms of explosives. The SSP said one of the bombers blew himself up near a GSF pick-up parked near the mosque while the other detonated himself at a little distance away just as two more army vehicles arrived there.

Syed Sajid Ali, who runs a medical store nearby, told Dawn he had come to the mosque in the bazaar for Friday prayers five minutes before the first blast took place on Khuda Baksh Road. He said as he and others, present in the mosque, came out the second powerful blast occurred at R.A. Bazaar Chowk, a few yards away from the site of the first blast.

“Black smoke engulfed the bazaar and there were bodies and human body parts scattered on the road,” Sajid Ali said, adding that he picked several dead and injured to put them in police vans, rickshaws and ambulances. He said the second blast caused more damage than the first one.

The official response varied from one Punjab government functionary to another. Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said the blast was unfortunate given the security in place.

The Punjab law minister disagreed with the assertion that it was a security lapse and did not rule out the involvement of foreign hand.

But Lahore Commissioner Khusro Pervaiz was categorical in saying that India was behind the terror.

The suicide attacks came only four days after a strike in Lahore’s Model Town left 14 people dead.

The horror was compounded after a series of blasts shook Allama Iqbal Town and Samanabad. The low-intensity, but scary series of explosions all the same, targeted one residential block after another in the 1600-acre Allama Iqbal Town.

These were reminiscent of the flurry of low-intensity blasts in Karachi last year and the ones that occurred in Lahore’s Garhi Shahu area, also last year.

Iqbal town blasts

Five explosions in residential localities of Iqbal Town, near Moon Market, triggered panic among residents and traders.

SSP Shafiq said that low-intensity cracker bombs had been used by miscreants apparently to harass and create unrest among the citizens.

He said explosives had either been planted or concealed in the ground in majority of strikes.

He said the first explosion occurred along the wall of 163-Kashmir Block at about 8:45pm, followed by another beneath a car parked outside 737-Kashmir Block, owned by Group Captain Inamul Haq.

The third explosion also took place in the same block within a few minutes and the fourth one in Huma Block.

The SSP said that only a car was damaged in the second explosion. There was no loss of life or injury.

The fifth explosion occurred near Moon Market at about 11:25pm.

The Samanabad blast took place outside the house of a government official.
Comment