LAHORE, PAKISTAN:(WN)-Explosives in a
building under construction ignited Thursday, ripping through a market in an
upscale neighborhood in the eastern city of Lahore, killing eight people,
officials said. It was not immediately clear whether the explosives were meant
to be a bomb or merely stored in the building.
The news came as a shock to many in this
Islamic nation, where a string of brazen attacks claimed by Pakistani Taliban
over the past two weeks have killed more than 125 people. Islamabad claims that
Pakistani Taliban use Afghan soil to stage terrorist attacks across Pakistan, a
charge Kabul denies.
Thursday's blast was so powerful that it
shattered windows of nearby buildings and damaged vehicles parked outside a
market in the Defense Housing Authority, said Rana Sanaullah, provincial law
minister. Lahore became a victim of terrorism once again when an explosion
occurred in Y block DHA near an under construction building. The blast has
taken the lives of 10 people and at least 30 have been reported injured.
MMA fighter Bashir Ahmed, who is often
credited with being the man to introduce the fighting form to Pakistani
audiences, had been in a close-by hair saloon had left only a few minutes ago when the
explosion happened.
Talking to a private news organisation, the
MMA star said his driver had told him initially that it was a transformer
exploding, but that he knew instantly that it had been a bomb explosion due to
his “military background.”
Expressing his frustrations to his fans on
social media, the fighter took to his facebook posting “What kind of demented
thought process justifies a random bombing, We are going to take these cowards
on together as a nation. And I mean cowards.”
Nearly 30 people were wounded in the blast
that the provincial Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) said was caused when
explosives inside the building ignited.
Mohammad Iqbal, spokesman for the CTD, told
reporters that investigators were still trying to determine the purpose of
storing explosive material in the building, and whether it was an improvised
explosive device or remote control device.
Lahore police operations chief Haider Ashraf
said the explosion took place inside a building that was under construction and
where laborers were working at the time.
Earlier, live local TV footage showed smoke
rising from a part of a restaurant that was under construction. The explosion
was so powerful it littered the parking area outside the building with broken
glass and debris. Dust and smoke covered dozens of cars parked outside, their
windscreens and rear windows shattered.
The restaurant is located in a neighborhood
called Defense Housing Authority, which includes several marketplaces and
shopping areas. The area is under control of the military backed department a
common practice across Pakistan in better-off residential areas and housing is
mainly given to people working for the armed forces, though civilians can also
buy plots and build homes.
Recent attacks across Pakistan have been
claimed by an array of militant groups, including the Islamic State group and a
splinter Taliban faction, and have prompted a countrywide crackdown on
militants. In just one bombing last week, which was claimed by IS and which
targeted a revered Sufi shrine packed with Muslim worshippers the majority of
them Shiites at least 90 people were killed.
Pakistan has been at war with the Taliban and
allied Islamic militants who want to destabilize the nuclear-armed country to
install their own harsh interpretation of Islam.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif,
speaking to reporters during an official visit to Turkey on Thursday, asked
Afghanistan to act against those militants who are using Afghan soil for
terrorist attacks in Pakistan. He also said Pakistani security forces backed by
the army will take all steps to eliminate terrorism.
Sharif's comments came hours after the Afghan
ambassador to Pakistan, Omar Zakhilwal, demanded the reopening of border
crossings closed by Islamabad in the wake of the shrine bombing. Pakistan says
any decision about reopening the crossings "will be taken in due
course."
There was no immediate comment from Kabul in
response to Sharif's comments. But earlier in the day, Shekib Mustaghni, the
Afghan foreign ministry spokesman, said Afghanistan was ready to seek United
Nations sanctions against suspected terrorist networks and their supporters, a
veiled reference to Pakistan. Kabul accuses Pakistan of aiding Taliban
insurgents, particularly the Haqqani network.
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