LAHORE: At least two people have been killed and over 35 including women and children injured in a blast near railway station in Lahore, officials said on Tuesday.
Police confirmed that a blast took place at Plat Forum No.2 during rush hours that killed three people. According to reports a bomb was kept in a bag near the booking counter of Business Train. Police said that two persons including Muhammad Boota (porter) and Baba Siddque (Constable) lost their lives in the incident.The blast took place five minutes after the Awam Express train stopped at the platform. The train had arrived from Rawalpindi.
Officials of the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) said around 8-10kg of explosive material was used in this blast. According to their initial findings, it was a time-device.All hospitals have been placed on emergency status and doctors have been directed to be ready for critically injured patients.As many as 18 injured people including a minor were shifted to Mayo Hospital while five were rushed to Gangaram Hospital.
Lahore CCPO Aslam Tareen told journalists at the Railway Station that the bomb had contained six to eight kilograms of explosives and had yielded a high intensity blast. “We will investigate how this occurred,” he said. “With the security checks in place, this should not have happened.”SSP Operations Sajjad said that Railway Police was responsible for security at the place. He, however, said that security was made high alert across the city in wake of the recent attack. They started search operation in the surrounding areas.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani condemned the incident, ordering detailed report of the incident at the earliest.After a suicide attack on Shia procession on January 25, 2011, it was the first attack in Lahore. – Onlinenews
