Lahore blast kills 11, injures 60

Lahore: A powerful explosion killed at least 11 people and injured 60 when it ripped through a protest in Pakistan’s Lahore Monday, officials said, shattering a growing sense of security in the provincial capital.

Police had cordoned off the area on Mall Road, one of the city’s main arteries, as witnesses fled amid fears of a second blast, with images of the injured being carried away shown by local media. Rescue official Deeba Shahnaz said at least 10 people had died in the explosion, while some 60 other wounded people had been rushed to city hospitals, in figures confirmed by hospital sources. “The blast was so powerful. I saw the injured and bodies, saw flames surrounding the blast site, people were crying,” witness Muhammad Tariq said. The incident occurred as hundreds of chemists protested a new law near the Punjab provincial assembly building, Rana Sanaullah, the provincial law minister, said. Lahore, the country’s cultural capital, suffered one of Pakistan’s deadliest attacks during 2016, a Taliban suicide bomb in a park on Easter that killed more than 70, including many children. But blasts have generally been rare in the teeming city in recent years, as casualties from extremist attacks in Pakistan dropped significantly in 2015 and 2016. — AFP