Powerful car bomb kills 13 in Lahore

Updated at: 1325 PST, Monday, March 08, 2010
















LAHORE: A car bomb slammed into Pakistani offices used to interrogate suspected militants on Monday, destroying the building and killing 12 people in the latest attack to strike Lahore.

At least 66 including 13 women were wounded with people trapped under rubble of collapsed buildings when a car packed with up to 600 kilograms (1,300 pounds) of explosives struck an investigations unit in city’s posh area.

There were scenes of panic as volunteers and rescue workers dug with bare hands under the collapsed two-storey building and a severely damaged seminary founded by Dr Israr Ahmed, searching for survivors and fearing the death toll could rise.

"It was around 8:15 (0315 GMT) when I heard a deafening blast which shook my house," said Nasim-ur-Rehman who lives about 1.5 kilometres (one mile) from the scene of attack in the upmarket neighbourhood Model Town.

"When I rushed out I saw thick smoke billowing out," he added.

The blast gouged a huge crater out of the ground, crumpled roofs and littered the streets with tree branches. Bulldozers and other heavy-lifting machinery worked to clear away the mounds of rubble, witnesses said.

Flying glass wounded passers-by. A woman and her daughter were among the dead in the city of eight million, and civilians who were wounded were mostly office workers or parents returning after dropping their children at school.

"It was a police special investigation unit that was targeted. A vehicle packed with explosives hit the building. The building was used to interrogate suspected terrorists," Lahore city police chief Pervez Rathore said.

Khusro Pervez, the top administration official in Lahore, said 11 people were killed and 61 wounded.

"I fear the death toll may rise. We believe there are still people trapped under the rubble," he said.

Police said 30 to 50 people were in the building, used by police and intelligence agents, at the time of attack, which blew out a crater three metres (10 feet) deep and four to six metres wide.

"The blast also severely damaged a nearby religious school and houses. All schools have been closed in the area in order to avoid further losses or to prevent the possibility of another attack," said Rathore.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik blamed "hired killers who want to destabilise Pakistan" and pointed the finger at the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) faction holed up in the northwest of the country along the border with Afghanistan.

"In almost every blast there has been TTP involvement and they themselves have also claimed responsibility for attacks," he added.

"The ammunition and weapons are coming from Afghanistan," he alleged.

Ambulances raced to the area and the city's Jinnah Hospital declared a state of emergency as casualties were rushed into wards and rescue workers used seismic sensors to search for survivors under the rubble.

Hospitals in the city are working under emergency condition following the mishap. At least 29 injured are in critical state.

The deceased include Constable Munawwar Hasan, Constable Abdul Aziz, Amjad, Shahid, Muhammed Naveed, Habibullah, Aziz Ahmed, Arif, 40-year Ghazala and 5-year Rahila.

The relief work is underway with heavy machinery and at least 6 people have been excavated from under the ruble.

The blast also severely hit ten to 12 nearby houses, as the affected building is situated in the residential area.

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Lahore attack, 9 victims laid to rest
Updated at: 2355 PST, Monday, March 08, 2010
LAHORE: Out of 13 victims, who died in today’s car bomb blast in Lahore, nine were laid to rest on Monday night.

The funeral prayers of eight victims, including six policemen, were offered at Police Line. On this occasion, IG Punjab Tarim Salim Dogar said an inquiry team has been formed to probe the terror attack.

Earlier in the day, a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into a building where police interrogate high-profile suspects in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore, killing at least 13 people and wounding 61 others, including women, officials said.

The attack shattered what had been a relative lull in major violence in Pakistan.

The attack also showed that rebels retain the ability to strike the country's heartland, far from the Afghan border regions where al Qaida and the Taliban have long thrived, despite army offensives aimed at wiping them out.

The authorities have found the head of the suicide bomber.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicion fell on the Pakistani Taliban and allied militant groups.

Those groups are believed to have been responsible for a wave of attacks which killed more than 600 people starting in October, including several in major Pakistani cities. More recent attacks have been smaller and confined to remote north-west regions near Afghanistan.

The latest explosion comes amid reports of a Pakistani crackdown on Afghan Taliban and al Qaida operatives using its soil. Among the militants said to have been arrested is the Afghan Taliban's number two commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.

The bomb went off outside a Punjab province police building, police official Zulfikar Hameed said. TV footage showed a huge crater in the ground where the blast seemed to have originated.

DCO Lahore said that 800 kilograms of explosive material was used in the attack.

Police official Chaudhry Shafiq said 13 people had died. Of the 61 people wounded, several were in a critical condition.

Hospital official Jawed Akram said the dead included at least one woman and a young girl, apparently part of a group heading to a school. Several women were among the wounded.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik painted the attack as sign of desperation from militants whose "backs have been broken" by the army. "They are taking guerrilla actions but gradually it is decreasing and they are being arrested and in the coming days they will have no chance," he said.