However, it is yet to be determined whether or not it was an IED timer (a timed improvised explosive device) or a remote-controlled device; the restaurant itself was the target or the explosive went off in transit, the spokesperson said. An eyewitness said there was a heavy blast and people started running in panic. She said dead bodies were lying in pieces. Ikram Farooq, another eye-witness, told Business Recorder that some of the blast victims were seen lying on the road soon after the explosion.
After the blast, windows of nearby offices and eateries shattered by shockwaves and shrapnel. Windscreens of cars parked in a radius of 100 feet were completely shattered. The area where the blast occurred is a busy locality with several commercial offices and eateries.
The law enforcement personnel held three suspects from DHA Y Block, Commercial Market, who are said to be Afghan nationals. They have been shifted to an unknown place for investigation. Panic gripped the provincial metropolis and management of different educational institutions closed schools and let their students go home. Director General Rescue 1122 Dr Rizwan Naseer told media that eight people were killed and 30 others injured in the incident. The injured were moved to LGH and Defence Hospital where some of them are in critical condition. Talking to media personnel, SP CTD Dr Iqbal said the incident happened at around 11:12 am. They are investigating the matter. The Forensic teams have also collected evidences from the spot, he added.
Capital City Police Officer Lahore Amin Wains, DIG Operations Haider Ashraf, Lord Mayor Lahore Mubashir Javaid and other senior officers of the security agencies rushed to the scene soon after the incident. The security in the Cantonment area was tightened at all the entry and exit points. Commuters were allowed to enter the cantonment area after strict physical checking. Security was also beefed up across the city by putting additional pickets.
AFP adds: "My God, my God, I saw so many bodies," said Imtiaz Ali, a barber in a Tony & Guy hair salon opposite the blast site in the posh Defence Housing Authority suburb of the city, replete with upscale boutiques and cafes. The building where the bomb went off was under construction in a market crowded with people, including children, the 34-year-old told AFP. "When I came out I first just saw smoke and dust... Bikes upturned. Cars destroyed. My own colleague's car windows blown out. My clients' cars blown out. I was close to fainting."
Police and administration officials confirmed it was a bomb attack, as the provincial health minister Khawaja Salman Rafique and rescuers supplied the casualty toll. "Four people died on the spot while another four died of their wounds in the hospital," Rafique said. No group has yet claimed responsibility.
Just over an hour later rumours of a second blast in another affluent area nearby sent ambulances racing to the scene, though authorities later said the reports were false. Panic also spread on social media as citizens exchanged messages purporting to be warnings from intelligence agencies, including one that falsely stated a general curfew had been ordered over Lahore with shoot-on-sight orders.
The rumours underscored growing nervousness across the country as a series of assaults shook Pakistanis emboldened by what had been a prolonged lull in violence. The incidents, most of which were claimed by the Islamic State group or the Pakistani Taliban, have dented optimism after the country appeared to be making strong gains in its decade-and-a-half long war on militancy.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2017