Islamabad, Dec 8 (DPA) At least 40 people have been killed and over 100 injured in three bomb explosions that rocked Pakistan’s two major cities Monday.
Islamist insurgents have launched a series of deadly attacks across the country in recent weeks to avenge military operations in the militancy-plagued tribal region near the Afghan border.
Two back-to-back bombings ripped through a busy market in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore Monday night, killing at least 30 people and injuring more than 90.
A senior police officer, Chaudhry Shafique, said first a suicide bomber struck the market that was packed with women and children buying clothes, cosmetics and toys. Almost simultaneously, another blast took place, setting fire to several shops.
Many among the dead and injured were women and children. It was feared the death toll might rise further.
An eyewitness told local Duniya News television channel over the phone from the scene that he was in a restaurant when the first blast occurred in the Moon Market.
“We ran out to save our lives but the second bomb exploded and five to six people fell to the ground,” he said.
The Moon Market is located in the city’s upmarket Iqbal Town area, where a bombing near a police station killed two policemen Aug 13, 2008. Lahore is Pakistan’s second largest city and is considered the country’s cultural capital.
Monday’s bombings in Lahore came hours after a suicide bomber detonated his explosives outside a court building in Pakistan’s north-western city of Peshawar, killing 10 people and injuring many more.
Liaquat Ali Khan, the police chief in Peshawar, told reporters that the bomber blew himself up when he was intercepted by guards at the gate of the building.
An official at the state-run Lady Reading Hospital confirmed 10 deaths and said that 45 injured had been brought to the hospital.
“Half of them had minor injuries and therefore they were discharged immediately after treatment,” he added.
Two policemen and a lawyer were among those killed in the blast that shattered the window panes of a hostel for members of the provincial assembly in North-West Frontier Province, of which Peshawar is the capital.
The bomber carried around 7 kg of explosives in his vest that was also packed with ball bearings, bomb disposal expert Tanveer Ahmed told the Express News television channel.
The terrorist assaults come as Pakistani security forces battle Taliban fighters in their stronghold of South Waziristan, a rugged region described as the centre of global terrorism that serves as a sanctuary for the international Al Qaeda terrorist network.
The seven-week assault has killed more than 600 militants, though thousands have fled to the neighbouring district to continue for a protracted guerrilla war.
