No fewer than 10 people have been killed and dozens other injured in Monday bomb blast in the Pakistani city of Lahore.
A local media, hindustantimes, reports that the explosion on Monday went off in Lahore’s busy Mall Road when a large number of chemists and pharmaceutical manufacturers were staging a demonstration against a new drug control act on the Mall Road, where several key government buildings are located.
National Daily gathered that a Pakistani Taliban-linked armed group, Jamaat-ur-Ahrar, has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Among those injured were media personnel who were covering the rally and Lahore’s traffic police chief, Ahmad Mobin, and two other senior police officials.
A witness told Al Jazeera that the blast occurred near the Punjab assembly building when a man on a motorcycle rammed into a police vehicle. It was not immediately ascertained whether the suicide bomber actually targeted the protesters or the police personnel.
A reporter with Al Jazeera, Kamal Hyder, said “The explosion was heard for several kilometres. It was a very powerful explosive device.”
It was further gathered that ambulance services had arrived at the scene, while the security forces, including the army, cordoned off the area right in front of the assembly.
Lahore was the site of an Easter Day bombing in 2016 that killed more than 70 people in a public park.