Roundup: Bomb explosion leaves 3 killed, 23 injured in Pakistan's Punjab

0 Comment(s)Print E-mail Xinhua, June 23, 2021
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by Misbah Saba Malik

ISLAMABAD, June 23 (Xinhua) -- Three people were killed and 23 others injured when a bomb went off in a residential-cum-commercial area in capital city Lahore of Pakistan's eastern Punjab province on Wednesday, Chief Minister of Punjab Usman Buzdar confirmed.

Buzdar took notice of the blast and sought a report from the inspector general of the city' s police besides directing best possible medical treatment to the injured.

Talking to Xinhua about the nature of the blast, Senior Superintendent of Police (Investigation) of the city Nadeem Abbas said that about 15-20 kg of explosives were fixed in a car parked in the area.

"We are tracing the owner of the car which has been completely burnt in the explosion and checking how the vehicle carrying so many explosives sneaked into the city and how did the militants manage to explode it," he said.

The officer said that the killed included a father and his six-year-old son while the injured included women, kids and a policeman guarding the area, adding that the blast also left a large crater at the site.

The injured have been shifted to Jinnah Hospital, Lahore where four of them are in critical condition while the condition of the remaining 19 is stable, he added.

Police and rescue teams rushed to the site following the explosion and the area was cordoned off by the law enforcement agencies for investigation.

Younis Bhatti, a representative of a non-governmental rescue organization Edhi Foundation, told Xinhua that they received a call at about 11:20 a.m. local time about a blast hitting the Johar Town area of the city and they moved their ambulances and rescue workers to the site.

"When we reached there, many were injured while a few others were unable to move due to serious injuries. There was a large crater on the road and the impact of the blast was so strong that it caused fire in three vehicles and partially damaged two nearby houses."

Bhatti said that most of the victims were passers-by including a rickshaw driver and his family who were going back to home after picking kids from school.

He added that a gas pipeline also burst following the explosion which caused damage to the houses.

In a video going viral on social media, the owner of one of the houses was seen crying in desperation over the damage of his "new house" which he "built only six years ago."

Inspector General of Punjab Police Inam Ghani reached the site following the explosion, and told media that the Punjab police is vigilant to maintain the law and order situation in the province and "right now, we have about 65 threat alerts" in different parts of the province.

He also hinted at involvement of an external element in the attack. "These attacks are usually carried out by countries that want to harm Pakistan and its progress."

No group or individual has claimed the attack yet, and further investigation into the incident is underway. Enditem

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