Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

One suspect of police training attack in Pakistan arrested: state TV

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, March 30, IRNA -- Police arrested a suspect while fleeing the police training center in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore where 22 policemen were killed in terrorist attack, officials said.

Armed men entered a police training center at 7:30 a.m., and threw hand grenades and opened fire at the policemen who were busy in a parade in the center, at Manwala area of Lahore, police said.

PTV reported that a suspect in police uniform was taken into custody when he was trying to come out of the building.

Over 70 policemen were also injured in the deadly attack on police in Pakistan.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack. But the police said that militants might be behind the attack.

TV footage showed several dead bodies lying in the lawn of training center. Several were shown trying to flee the center.

Army and paramilitary force were also called out to help the elite police force.

The authorities imposed curfew in the area to stop the people entering the area. People were asked to leave.

An injured policeman, who came out of the building, said that some 20 armed militants were present inside the building.

The armed men held several policemen hostage inside the center, he said. Officials said that the armed men also started firing at the police trainers in rooms.

Locals said they heard a huge blast in the center, which was followed by at least five small blasts.

Deputy Inspector General Investigation Mumtaz Sukhera said that around 850 police get training in the center.

The security forces fired tear gas inside the training center and then started firing at the armed militants, who had taken positions at different locations. The militants were returning fire in a well-organized way, making it difficult for police to enter the building for several hours.

The armoured carrier vehicles were also called to deal with the situation.

Emergency was declared in the hospitals in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province.

The armed men were firing at the security forces from different locations inside the training center.

Helicopters were flying over the building of the training center to check the moment of the armed men.

Interior Advisor Rehman Malik said that foreign hands could not be ruled out in the incident but he did not blame any country. He said that the such attackers have got training in Afghanistan.