Death toll from Pakistan's twin blasts reaches 49
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Islamabad, Dec 8, IRNA -- Death toll from twin blasts in the Pakistani eastern city of Lahore reached 49, officials said Tuesday.
Two powerful bomb blasts ripped through a busy market place in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province Monday night when people, mostly women and children, were busy in shopping.
District Coordination Officer Lahore, Sajjad Bhutta, said that death toll touched the figure of 49 on Tuesday as more people died in hospitals of wounds.
Bhutta said that 180 people had been injured and 62 were still under treatment in different hospitals.
No group has claimed responsibility for the blasts at Iqbal Town locality of the city. But the government blames militants for such incidents.
Witnesses said that the blasts caused a massive fire in a crowded shopping mall and Bhutta said that 33 people were totally burnt and were difficult to be identified.
Monday’s strike was the second terrorist attack in Iqbal Town. On August 13, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the same market, killing nine people, including two children.
Chief Minister Punjab Province Shehbaz Sharif visited the injured at a city’s hospital. He said the country is passing through a major challenge in the wake of growing terrorism.
He added that the gang of terrorists is creating terror among the people but the nation will defeat them.
A provincial minister Raja Riaz alleged that India is behind blasts in Pakistan, a charge always denied by Indian authorities.
**1422
End News / IRNA / News Code 829984
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
