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27
killed, nearly 326 injured; ISI agents, 11 policemen among the dead
:
ISI, police attacked
 *
Gunmen exchange fire with security personnel before vehicle loaded
with 100 kgs of explosives hit Rescue 15 building
* Rs 3m compensation for heirs of each police official killed
By Rana Tanveer
LAHORE: Suicide bombers detonated a vehicle loaded with 100
kilogrammes of explosives near offices of the capital city police
officer (CCPO) and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in Lahore
on Wednesday – killing at least 27 people and wounding 326, in
addition to destroying a two-storey building of the Rescue 15 police
service, according to police.
Attack: Witnesses said the attack started midmorning when two gunmen
stepped out of a white van – which had pulled up in a narrow street
separating the police and ISI buildings – cautioned civilians to
take cover, themselves took cover behind concrete barriers
protecting the buildings and started firing at security personnel
deployed down the street. The driver remained in the van as his
accomplices exchanged fire with the security personnel, to clear the
path for the vehicle to move towards the ISI and CCPO offices –
located about a hundred feet down the street opposite each other.
The gunmen also hurled a grenade at the security personnel. As the
firing continued, the driver managed to cross the concrete barrier,
but could not get further and was forced to blow up the vehicle
there.
SP Sohail Sukhera said two policemen were injured in the gunbattle.
He said a threefold security cordon prevented the attackers from
getting to the offices CCPO and ISI offices. He said the terrorist
in the vehicle was shot – which prompted him to blow up the vehicle
about a hundred feet away from the intended target, in front of the
Rescue 15 building.
Officials said at least three suspects had been detained.
Civil Defence District Officer Mazhar Abbas told Daily Times a
suicide jacket and two Russian-made hand grenades had been found
from the blast site. Sukhera said 27 people – including 11 policemen
– died in the attack. The AP news agency reported that “several
intelligence agents” were among the dead. The APP news agency said
50 of the injured people were in critical condition, but Punjab Law
Minister Rana Sanaullah said 20 were in critical condition.
Sukhera said nobody had claimed responsibility for the attack. The
blast left a crater eight feet deep and several yards in diameter.
There was no trace of the vehicle used in the blast – which
destroyed an area nearly the size of a city block, with cars on the
street left mangled and bricks strewn dozens of yards in all
directions.
A nearby filling station was totally destroyed and several car
showrooms damaged. The ceilings of several operating rooms in a
nearby hospital caved in, and windows of buildings in a two-kilometre
radius were shattered.
Most of the outer wall of the ISI office was destroyed and the
building partially damaged, while the CCPO’s office was also damaged
and SSP (Discipline) Farooq Mazhar injured. DCO Sajjad Bhutta said
the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber. Rangers, Rescue
1122, police, Civil Defence and the Edhi Foundation immediately
started rescue operations.
Sources in the Police Department told Daily Times that there were 35
police officials in the CCPO’s office at the time of the blast, and
only three of them were unhurt – “all others were either injured or
they died”.
The president and the prime minister condemned the attack in
separate statements, and said their government remained committed to
rooting out terrorism.
Compensation: According to APP, the Punjab chief minister has said
that Rs 3 million would be given as compensation to families of
policemen killed in the attack, and the government would also pay
for their children’s education. Financial assistance would also be
provided to the civilians killed or injured.
Indian hand can’t be ruled out’
LAHORE: Indian involvement in
the suicide attack in Lahore on Wednesday cannot be ruled out,
Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah has said. Visiting the blast
site, Sanaullah said the attack was being thoroughly investigated to
trace the mastermind. Meanwhile, Punjab Excise and Taxation Minister
Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman – on behalf of CM – said “such terror
activities should not be politicised”, and called on the nation to
unite against “anti-state elements”. app
Chaos reigns as injured rushed to hospitals:
Bloody Wednesday
-
Injured admitted in Mayo Hospital: 110, Ganga Ram Hospital: 125,
Services Hospital: 50 g WAPDA House, CM’s Secretariat, Lahore Zoo
among buildings damaged
Staff Report
LAHORE: Chaotic scenes were witnessed on Wednesday as the injured
were rushed to hospitals across the city.
Hamid, a citizen, told Daily Times that he was going to the Mayo
Hospital for physiotherapy. “When I drove into the compound, I saw
people rushing in with their injured relations and friends.”
Naurez said he got out of the car, but a man who was standing
nearby, stopped him, telling him to leave as there was a chance
that the hospital’s roof might collapse.
Admitted: Hospitals were choked with patients, and often two
people were seen on one bed. About 110 injured were taken to the
Mayo Hospital, while 125 were admitted to the Ganga Ram Hospital
and 50 were taken to the Services Hospital.
Separately, The Mall was blocked to all traffic on Wednesday after
the blast at the Rescue 15 building, with shops and plazas on and
around the road shutting down.
Hall Road also remained closed and shops on Bedan Road and Regal
Chowk were shuttered. The glass doors of many shops that were not
open at the time of the blast shattered behind the shutters.
Shopkeepers after closing their shops gathered near the site of
the blast and the police officials had to repeatedly ask them to
disperse.
Though The Mall was barricaded at several points, the traffic did
not choke for long as the road was deserted after the blast. The
voice of the blast was heard at the Civil Secretariat and the
Government College University and even as far as The Lahore
College for Women University.
The Institute of Art and Design and National College of Arts, on
The Mall, tightened their security and closed the gates.
Several significant buildings were damaged and destroyed by the
bomb blast at the Rescue 15 office, as the shocks travelled in a
radius of several kilometres.
The blast destroyed several buildings situated within a 200-metre
radius from the Rescue 15 office. Most buildings have been
declared ineligible for renovation, but must be demolished and
then reconstructed.
Buildings: Several buildings – WAPDA House, Pakistan International
Airlines office, Chief Minister’s Secretariat, Lahore Zoo, Plaza
Cinema, offices of two newspapers, Punjab Assembly, Alfalah
Building, Shahdin Building, Ganga Ram Hospital, St Anthony’s High
School, banks, CNG and petrol stations and the Red Cross office –
were partially damaged by the blast.
Cellular networks remain jammed
LAHORE: The
networks of ellular phone service providers were jammed due to an
excessive load on the cellular companies’ lines. The load was a
result of the large number of calls being made by people after the
blast to ensure their relatives and friends had not been harmed. “I
have been sending messages to my friends but mostly they did not get
delivered,” Arshad Farooq said, adding that he had to send the
messages several times. Abdul Rasheed, a banker, said he had to face
several problems when dialling his friends’ cellular numbers, as
there was a ‘network failure’. “Often, the cellular phone’s network
failed and I had to wait for it to get connected,” Rasheed said.
staff report
Four out of seven terror attacks in Lahore occur on The Mall
By Ali Usman
LAHORE: Yesterday’s terrorist attack on the building of an
intelligence agency and the Rescue 15 office on Queen’s Road is the
seventh deadly attack in Lahore and the fourth on the busy The Mall
during the last one-and-a-half years.
All four of the blasts on The Mall have occurred on one side of the
city’s busiest road. A number of important government and private
offices are located on The Mall, which also houses many businesses.
At least 68 people were killed in the five terrorist attacks prior
to the Manawan terrorist attack. Following is a chronology of the
terrorist attacks in Lahore between January 2008 to date. The major
targets of most of these attacks have been law enforcement agencies.
All six terrorist attacks in Lahore during January 2008 to March
2009 have been carried out in broad daylight.
GPO Chowk attack: A motorcyclist blew himself up outside the Lahore
High Court (LHC) on January 10, 2008, killing 24 people and injuring
80. Around 20 police officials were killed in the attack. The attack
was the first major suicide attack in Lahore and shocked the people.
A wave of sympathy was generated in the general public for the
police after the attack.
Pakistan Navy War College attack: Two suicide bombers attacked the
Pakistan Navy War College on March 4, 2008, killing six people and
injuring 23. Inter-Services Public Relations, however, said three
junior-ranked officers were martyred while 16 were injured. The
attack was the second one on The Mall, the main road in the city.
FIA blast: At least 30 people were killed and more than 200 wounded
in twin suicide blasts at the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)
headquarters on Temple Road and an advertising agency’s office in
Model Town on March 11, 2008. The FIA headquarters at that time also
housed a special US-trained unit to counter terrorism. A small truck
crashed into the main entrance of the FIA building, running over a
constable guarding the gate. The attacker then rammed the truck into
a car parked near the reception. The blast was so severe that the
windowpanes of buildings within a 2-km radius were shattered.
Garhi Shahu blasts: Three low-intensity bombs exploded in three
juice shops in Garhi Shahu, injuring five people, including two
children, on October 7, 2008. No casualties were reported; however,
an injured passed away a day after the blasts.
Blasts at WPAF: Three blasts at the World Performing Arts Festival (WPAF)
at the Alhamra Cultural Complex created immense panic among the
people on November 22, 2008. The festival however concluded
peacefully and no casualties were reported.
GOR-II blast: A woman was killed and five people were injured when a
mini-truck packed with explosives blew up in GOR-II on December 24,
2008.
Theatres targeted: Panic gripped the city when low-intensity blasts
targeted two theaters, Alfalah and Tamaseel, on January 9, 2009. No
casualties were reported.
Liberty terrorist attack: At least seven people were killed and six
cricketers, a coach and a Pakistani umpire was injured in an attack
on the Sri Lankan cricket team at the Liberty Roundabout on March 3.
The attackers fired rounds of AK-47, hand grenades and rockets at
the Sri Lankan team’s convoy and managed to flee the scene.
Manawan attack: The Police Training School Manawan was attacked by
the terrorists on March 30. At least eight police cadets were killed
in the attacks. Unofficial sources put the death toll at 27.
Echoes of terror...
“My office was damaged in the FIA blast, and has now been completely
destroyed. I’m going to have to get it demolished before I can get
it reconstructed” —Ijaz Haider, businessman
“I had eight brand new cars valued at about Rs 4 million ready for
sale. But now all of them have been destroyed. Who will compensate
me for the damage?” —Rizwan Ahmed, a car dealer
“I was going to purchase a cigarette from a nearby store when a
strong blast occurred. It made me lose my senses and I fell to the
ground”
—Mansoor, peon at a local office
“First the firing started. I ran to get some shelter and after some
time a small blast occurred. Soon after it a huge blast happened and
I lost my senses. My friend, a policeman deputed at the building,
was killed at the spot”
—Muhammad Akram, ice vendor on The Mall
“I’m considering changing my children’s school. I had assured them
that the government had eliminated the terrorists so they wouldn’t
be petrified of going to school. Now they think I’m a liar”
—Muhammad Ikram, a student’s father
“The blast was similar to what we had previously experienced in the
FIA incident. Most children were traumatised by it. The teachers
gathered us in the school’s main ground to avoid any injuries that
may have been caused by the collapse of a building”
—Talha, a second grader
Daily Times: May 28,2009 |
