Official: At least 30 killed in Pakistan blast

Islamabad/Dubai Pakistan on Wednesday blamed Taliban militants for the suicide bomb attack in Lahore, suggesting it is retaliation for the military operation in Swat valley.

About 30 people were killed and nearly 300 injured in a suicide car bomb in the highly secured sensitive area in the heart of the city. A vehicle laden with explosives hit the police emergency service centre called “Rescue 15'' in the capital city of Punjab province at round 8.10am UAE time.

The location of the bomb blast is less than a kilometre from the Punjab Assembly building.

The powerful explosion razed the police building and damaged other adjacent buildings including that of the premier Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), local administration said.

Officers dead

Two officers and six lower level officials from the ISI agency were among those killed, according to a senior government official.

Just before the blast two men got out of a car and fired at police guards at the gate of ISI and the Rescue 15 buildings, provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah told reporters, adding several suspects were later detained.

“The blast reduced the police building to rubble, killing about 30 people, injuring some 300 and destroying dozens of vehicles and motorbikes parked in the area,'' a senior administration official said.

The blast hit after General David Petraeus, head of the US Central Command, was in Islamabad for talks on Tuesday with government and military leaders.

The United States needs Pakistani action against militants to help defeat Al Qaida and disrupt support for the Taliban in Afghanistan. It has welcomed the Swat offensive.

“I believe that anti-Pakistan elements, who want to destabilise our country and see defeat in Swat, have now turned to our cities. This is in retaliation to the military operation in Swat region,'' Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters.

“They are reacting out of frustration,'' he added.

A senior police official from Lahore told Gulf News that the real target was the ISI building but the car laden with 100kg of explosives exploded as the gunmen engaged the attackers. “It could have been a much bigger disaster if they managed to hit the building.''

UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband condemned the blast in Lahore and said Britain was “committed to standing shoulder by shoulder with Pakistan in days of need''.

Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna condemned the attack and said: “We hope that Pakistan and India would join hands together to fight this terror,'' he said in Delhi.

Malik urged terrorists to surrender. “No negotiations, no compromise with militants,'' he said.

Separately, the military told a media briefing that ten more militants had been killed in the Swat operation.

Is there any hope for peace in Pakistan? Have such attacks gone out of control?

a very shameful act...this is like people killing people in their own country!!
Shazia
Dubai,UAE
Posted: May 28, 2009, 09:57

Of course there is hope. In fact the army is doing a great job in eliminating terrorists in Swat and Bannu. This suicide attack was a cowardly retaliation attempt to demoralise the Pakistani nation. Look at Sri Lanka and how they battled and finally eradicated the Tamil Tigers from their country. Pakistan will do the same with these Talibans!
Sheraz Ahmad
Dubai,UAE
Posted: May 28, 2009, 08:53

Thi is really really sick...still we don't know what taliban actually want from pakistan... May Allah help the pak military to remove all the tabliban from the tribal areas...(Amen)
Yameen Khan
Dubai,UAE
Posted: May 28, 2009, 08:39

now a day days scientist busy in preventing the people with swine flu and bird flu, now the time has come to stop taliban flu from spreading across the world, who have no aim, but to kill and affect the people, basically these are not people these are ALLENS
Asim
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: May 28, 2009, 07:59