LAHORE – At least five police personnel and four citizens were martyred in a suspected suicide attack in the Raiwind area on the outskirts of Lahore on Wednesday evening, confirmed DIG Operation Dr. Haider Ashraf.
More than a dozen other people were injured in the explosion.
The senior police official also said that police personnel appeared to be the target of the attack as the explosion took place close to a police checkpost, near the vehicle of a deputy superintendent of police.
It appears to be a suicide attack, said the police official and confirmed that body parts have been found from the site of the blast. Police officials added a motorcycle near the blast site had been completely destroyed.
Rescue 1122 officials shifted the injured to nearby hospitals for medical treatment.
Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Operations Dr Haider Ashraf confirmed that it was a suicide blast which ripped through a police check post located on Raiwind Road leading towards the ground where ijtima (congregation) of Tableeghi Jamaat is held.
The government of Punjab issued a list of the martyred and the injured, who were received at THQ Hospital Raiwind.
According to police sources, the explosion appeared to be a targeted attack on law enforcement personnel.
The injured were shifted to nearby hospitals.
Chief Minister Punjab @CMShehbaz has strongly condemned the blast in Raiwind and has sought the report from Inspector General Police.
— Govt Of The Punjab (@GovtOfPunjab) March 14, 2018
He also instructed the authorities concerned to provide the best possible medical care and treatment to the injured.
https://twitter.com/CMShehbaz/status/973975924516540416
This is the first explosion targeting the provincial capital in 2018. Lahore experienced multiple terror attacks in 2017 that killed more than 60 people.
