Pakistan blast death toll hits 57
2010-03-13 09:07
Lahore - The death toll from a twin suicide attack in Pakistan's cultural capital Lahore rose to 57 on Saturday, as 12 more critically wounded died overnight, police said.
On Friday, two suicide bombers walked up to army vehicles in the crowded R A Bazaar area of Lahore, blowing themselves up as people sat down to eat before the main Muslim weekly prayers, police said.
Later that evening, five small bombs exploded elsewhere in Lahore causing no casualties and only minor damage, police said.
"A total of 57 people have been killed and 134 were wounded in these suicide attacks," Chaudhry Mohammad Shafiq, a senior police official said on Saturday.
He added that 12 seriously injured had died overnight in different hospitals. Mazhar Ahmad, chief of Lahore civil defence department also confirmed the death toll.
A military statement said eight army personnel were among the dead.
Lahore, a city of eight million near Pakistan's border with India, has been increasingly subject to Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked attacks in a nationwide bombing campaign that has killed more than 3 000 people in three years.
The bombers targeted the cantonment, home to army officials and military installations, as well as hospitals and schools run by the military. There were civilian homes, shops and restaurants in the vicinity of the attack.
Eight attacks have killed more than 170 people in Lahore over the past year, a historical city, playground for the elite and home to many top brass in Pakistan's powerful military and intelligence establishment.
- SAPA