Big bomb attack on police center kills 30 in Pakistan
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Islambad, May 27, IRNA - A huge car bomb attack on police center killed at least 30 people and injured over 80 in Lahore on Wednesday, police said.
The car exploded outside the rescue police center on the city's Fatimah Jinnah road, destroying the building.
TV channels reported that around 40 vehicles were also destroyed in the blast. The blast also caused damage to several nearby buildings.
No group has so far claimed responsibility but the government always blames such attacks on militants.
"A car came and broke through a barrier and exploded," senior city official Sajjad Ahmed Bhutta told reporters.
He said that one man, a suspect, was taken into custody.
The attacks came a day after Taliban spokesman Mulvi Mohammad Omar threatened attacks across Pakistan if the military operation in Swat was not stopped immediately.
The injured were shifted to different local hospitals and emergency was declared in all hospitals. Doctors say dozens of the injured are in critical condition and the death toll may rise.
Police had been targeted by the militants in Lahore in the past.
Witnesses said that the blast was so powerful that the whole police rescue centre building collapsed burying the policemen under the rubble.
Rescue teams and common people join hands to pull the trapped people out of the rubble.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani condemned the blast and ordered the provincial government to hold immediate inquiry into the incident. They expressed sympathies with the families of those killed in the blast.
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