Dozens killed in Pakistan bomb attack
Updated on 27 May 2009
Gunmen attack a police headquarters in the Pakistani city of Lahore, opening fire and setting off a car-bomb that killed at least 22 people, wounded nearly 300 and caused extensive damage.
The bomb caused widespread destruction, bringing down a government ambulance service building and damaging a nearby office of the military's main intelligence agency.
Just before the blast, two men got out of the car and opened fire at police guards at the gate, Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, adding a few suspects had later been detained.
But two witnesses said about four gunmen got out of a car and started firing.
"Four to five men got of the vehicle and fired at a police guard who tried to stop them," lawyer Subtain Akhtar Bokhari told Reuters.
One man told Express TV he had seen four young men dressed in black firing indiscriminately before the blast.
There was no claim of responsibility, but the blast comes after warnings of strikes in response to the army's attack on militants in the Swat region in the north west.
The attack came as General David Petraeus, head of the US Central Command, was in Islamabad for meetings with government and military leaders. An office of the military's main intelligence agency was also near the site of the blast.
The US needs Pakistani action against militants in its northwest to defeat al-Qaeda and disrupt support for the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Militant violence has surged in Pakistan since mid-2007, with numerous attacks on the security forces, as well as government and Western targets.
Officials have warned that militants might launch bomb attacks in retaliation for the offensive in Swat where the military says about 15,000 members of the security forces face 4,000-5,000 militants.
Lahore is the capital of Punjab province, the country's most populous and prosperous province. The country's second biggest city is also traditionally home to top bureaucrats and top military officials.
The city has seen several bomb attacks over the past couple of years but had felt much safer than other parts of the country until March when militants launched two attacks.
Attackers firing rifles and throwing grenades stormed a police training academy on the outskirts of the city on 30 March, killing eight recruits, wounding scores and holding off the security forces for hours.
That attack, claimed by Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, came less than a month after a dozen gunmen attacked Sri Lanka's cricket team in the city, killing six police guards and a bus driver.
