Several dead in Lahore blast

27/05/2009| IslamWeb

At least five people have been killed in a suspected car bombing outside a police station and a building housing the country's Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore.

A police official said at least five people had died of their injuries from Wednesday's blast, and that at least 50 other people had been hurt.

"A car came and broke through a barrier and exploded," Sajjad Ahmed Bhutta, a senior city official, said.

Black smoke was seen rising above the city as ambulances attended the scene of the blast.

Casualty reports were confused, with an official in the Punjab government saying that about 30 people had been killed in the blast, but most reports were more conservative.

Al Jazeera's Imran Khan, reporting from Islamabad, said the blast took place on Mall road, a busy commercial district in the centre of Lahore.

"We are hearing up to 40 cars have been destroyed in this blast ... we are seeing bodies being pulled out of the rubble," he said.

Nayyab Haider, a police spokesman, said: "It was a strong bomb blast. It damaged several buildings and cars and shattered widows."

Gunshots were heard immediately after the blast, but it was not clear who was firing, witnesses said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but the blast comes as Pakistan's army continues its campaign against Taliban fighters in the country's northwestern Swat region.

PHOTO CAPTION

Pakistani policemen inspect the site of a blast in Lahore, May 27, 2009.

Al-Jazeera