At least 2 people are reported to have been killed and many more injured in a bomb blast in Pakistan’s second-largest city of Lahore on Thursday.
According to the report by The Associated Press, the powerful bomb went off in a crowded bazar in the city of Lahore on Thursday, police and rescue officials said.
Abid Khan, a senior police official, said the dead and wounded had been transported to a nearby hospital, where some were listed in critical condition. officers are still trying to determine what kind of device was used for the attack, he added.
The blast was so powerful that it damaged several shops near the eastern city’s famous Anarkali bazar, witnesses said. TV footage showed burning motorcycles in a crowded bazar, as the wounded cried for help.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, but it comes days after the Pakistani Taliban shot dead three police officers in separate attacks in the capital, Islamabad, as well as the northwest region bordering Afghanistan.
The Pakistani Taliban, who have been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban seized power across the border in Afghanistan, warned this week they could carry out more attacks in the near future.
Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the bombing in a statement, urging local authorities to provide the best possible medical facilities to those who were wounded in the blast.
According to Aljazeera which also reported the sad incident in Lahore, stated that on Monday, a policeman was killed and two others wounded when a checkpost in the capital Islamabad came under fire from gunmen in an attack the interior minister warned may be the start of a wave of attacks. The TTP claimed responsibility for that attack in a statement sent to journalists on Tuesday.