At least 10 people were killed and 35 injured in Pakistan on Thursday after a bomb exploded in an under-construction building in Lahore’s Defence Y block area, Dawn reported. While the Punjab government initially said a generator blast had led to the explosion, police told Geo TV News that a timed device containing 8-10 kg explosives had caused it.
The blast took place near a popular shopping market in Lahore’s Defence Housing Authority locality. Several offices and eateries in the area were also affected and windscreens of cars parked far away from the building were shattered. The injured are being treated at the General Hospital in Lahore.
Teams from the Punjab Forensic Science Laboratory were called in to collect evidence, Dawn added. Schools in the area have been shut down for the day and a search operation is being conducted in the market.
There were reports of a second explosion near the Gulberg area in Lahore, but Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah dismissed such reports.
Several cities across Pakistan have been put on high alert following a series of terror attacks that have taken place in the country in the last ten days, killing over a 100 people. On Tuesday, at least five people were killed in three bomb blasts at a local court in Pakistan’s Charsadda district. Three suicide attackers were also killed in the incident.
On February 13, a suicide blast on Lahore’s Mall road killed 13 people. Banned militant outfit Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed the responsibility. At least 85 people were killed in a suicide attack on the Lal Shahbaz Qalandar Shrine in Sehwan on February 16, and the Islamic State group had claimed to be behind the carnage.
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