20 die in attack near residence of CM Shahbaz

A powerful suicide blast near the residence of Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on Monday killed at least 20 people and injured 30 others, officials said.

Lahore police chief Amin Wains said the “target of the blast was police”. He confirmed it was a suicide blast.

According to the Rescue 1122 service, at least 20 people, including policemen, were killed by the blast.

The explosion took place at a busy market near the Arfa Karim Software Technology Park, officials said. The residence of Shahbaz Sharif, the brother of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, is located about 100 metres from the site.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Punjab government spokesperson Malik Ahmed Awan said the local anti-encroachment department was conducting an operation against illegal structures in the area at the time of the attack. A fire erupted at the spot after the explosion, and glass panes of nearby buildings were blown out.

Local media reported the market is located in one of the most secure neighbourhoods of Lahore, with the chief minister’s residence in Model Town just about 100 metres away.

Bomb blasts by militants are common in Pakistan, especially in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, but attacks in Lahore have become less frequent recently. The last major blast in the city was in March last year, when 75 were killed.

Gas cylinder blasts are also common in Pakistan, where gas is used for everything from cooking to powering cars.

Lahore, a city of around six million people, is Pakistan’s cultural hub and the capital of its most populous and prosperous province of Punjab.

“(The explosion) seems like a suicide blast targeting police, but we are still ascertaining the nature of the explosion,” the city’s commissioner Abdullah Khan Sumbul said.

Meanwhile a spokesman for the Lahore police, Syed Hammad Shah, put the toll at 25 dead with 40 injured.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan warned the toll could rise in a press conference held minutes after the attack.

“It is not yet confirmed if it is an incident of terrorism or an accidental explosion,” the interior minister added.