Lahore suicide blasts: 30 killed, 250 injured

ISLAMABAD: In the latest wave of terrorist attacks, at least 30 people were killed and 250 injured when three suicide bombs ripped through a Shia procession in Pakistan's cultural city of Lahore.

The explosions hit three separate locations as 45,000 Shias marched in a traditional mourning ceremony for the assassination of Ali, the Prophet Muhammad's cousin, some 1,300 years ago during the month of Ramadan. Shias consider Ali as their first imam.

TV footages showed a small blast amid a procession on the street which was followed by another explosion in close proximity. The first two bombs of small intensity went off near Karbala Gamay Shah Imambargah, just when Muslims across Pakistan broke their fast.

Hundreds of people fled from the blast, while others rushed to the area to carry the wounded to safety. Within half an hour, a third and more powerful bomb exploded at Lahore's Bhatti Chowk at about 7:20 pm. The bomb sites are near the famous Data shrine which too was targeted by terrorists last July, leaving 42 people dead.

Earlier Khusro Pervez, commissioner Lahore, said that 18 bodies had been brought to the morgue while 162 people were injured. He warned the number of dead could rise.

The head of Lahore police, Aslam Tareen, said that at least two of the attacks were suicide bombings. "At least 35 of the people hurt in the blast were critically injured," Tareen said.

Lahore has been the scene of sectarian violence between Sunni and Shia Muslims in recent months.

However, there had been a pause in such attacks in the past month, as floods devastated all provinces of Pakistan.

After the blasts, the marchers erupted in fury and set fire to a police station and burnt a police truck. Other vehicles in the city were also torched.

The police had fired tear gas in an attempt to control the angry mob.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the blasts in a statement and said the attackers would not escape justice.

The latest attacks follow two days of government air raids on militant strongholds in the northwest region.

Pakistani forces killed up to 62 militants, their family members and other civilians with no ties to the fighters, officials said.