Bomb Blast Near Police Headquarters In Lahore Kills At Least 8, Several Injured

At least eight people were killed and several others were injured on Tuesday in a suspected suicide bomb blast outside a regional police headquarters in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore, according to local media reports. The incident was reportedly followed by gunfire, an eyewitness told Reuters.

The suicide bomber, who was allegedly inside a parked vehicle, detonated his explosives outside the Police Lines, The Express Tribune, a Pakistani newspaper, reported, citing authorities. “He blew himself up prematurely and could not enter the Police Lines,” a senior police official reportedly said.

Several vehicles parked near the area caught fire due to the blast and windows of nearby buildings were also shattered. According to The Express Tribune, Jamaat-ul-ahrar, an Islamist militant group that split from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in August last year, claimed responsibility for the attack.

The area has been cordoned off following the incident as police search for evidence linked to the blast. So far, body parts, allegedly of the bomber, have been recovered from the area.

The blast, which is the latest in a series of attacks in Pakistan in recent months, comes just days after a suicide attack on a Shia mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar killed 22 people. Militants affiliated to the Pakistani Taliban had claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack.