Lahore, May 28 (IANS) Lobbing grenades and firing indiscriminately, Taliban guerrillas stormed two mosques of the minority Ahmadi sect Friday, leaving at least 25 people dead and more than 30 injured, police and eyewitnesses said.
Heavy gunfire was interspersed with deafening blasts when the terror attack took place on the mosques in the Garhi Shahu and Model Town areas of Lahore.
The militants hurled hand grenades and opened fire on the people inside the mosques, Geo TV reported.
Security forces were able to tackle the seven militants who attacked the mosque in the Model Town area but several people are still trapped inside two hours after the attacks began at around 2.30 p.m.
Television footage showed gunmen firing indiscriminately from the rooftop of one of the mosques. Gunfire could be heard as people ran to take cover outside the mosque.
According to a police officer, among the gunmen involved in the Model Town attack, ‘one terrorist is dead, one injured and one has been held’.
Worried relatives of the worshippers who were trapped inside the mosques desperately tried to seek information about their fate.
Most of the injured have been taken to the Jinnah hospital. Two police officers were among the injured and were taken to the Services Hospital.
A high alert has been sounded in the city and police have blocked all roads leading to the two mosques.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Punjab has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Suicide bombers struck at a market in Lahore March 12, killing 45 and injuring over 100.
On October 15, 2009, the Taliban laid siege to Lahore with audacious and simultaneous attacks on three police establishments, including a training school just 12 km from the Indian border, that killed 25 people, including 10 of the attackers.
This was the second attack on the training school in 2009 after a March 30 assault that left eight attackers, an equal number of trainees and two civilians dead.
On March 3, 2009, Five policemen were killed when gunmen attacked the bus ferrying the Sri Lankan cricket team to the Gaddafi Stadium for the Test against Pakistan. Four members of the Sri Lankan team were injured and the tour was immediately called off.
