A suicide bomber blew himself up among police deployed outside a court in eastern Pakistan ahead of a planned anti-government protest yesterday, killing at least 22 people and wounding more than 70.
The blast in front of Lahore High Court was the latest in a wave of attacks targeting politicians and security forces ahead of Feb. 18 parliamentary elections. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but suspicion will likely fall on militants linked to Taliban and al-Qaeda.
It came as investigators from Scotland Yard visited forensic laboratories elsewhere in Lahore, the capital of Punjab Province, to examine evidence in the assassination two weeks ago of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi, a garrison city to the north.
"There were about 60 to 70 policemen on duty when a man rammed into our ranks and soon there was a huge explosion," said police officer Syed Imtiaz Hussain, who suffered wounds to his legs and groin.
"I saw the bodies of other policemen burning. It was like hell," he said.
The explosion left wounded people lying in pools of blood crying for help. TV footage showed at least four mangled bodies on the ground close to a destroyed motorbike and a piece of smoking debris. Ambulance workers loaded victims onto stretchers as police sirens wailed in the background.
The blast fired shrapnel as far as 100m away. It also shattered windows in the court house and set off volleys of tear gas shells carried by the police, preventing people getting close to the victims in the seconds after the attack, witnesses said.
Lahore chief of police operations Aftab Cheema said the bomber had run up to a barrier manned by police and blown himself up. He said 20 policemen and two civilians were killed. More than 70 others were wounded, including civilian passers-by, officials said.
"It was a suicide attack," Lahore police chief Malik Iqbal told Dawn News TV.
He said police were "definitely" targeted.
An Associated Press photographer at the scene of the attack saw the severed head of a man with long hair and beard. Police bomb disposal experts estimated the bomb contained up to 14kg of explosives.
The police had been deployed in front of the court ahead of a weekly lawyers' protest against Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf over his sacking of Supreme Court judges in November.
The rally had been scheduled to start about 15 minutes before the bomb went off. About 200 lawyers were inside the High Court at the time of the blast, and others were marching from a nearby district court.
UPDATED (3:40pm): A suspected gas explosion at a shopping mall in Taichung this morning has killed four people and injured 20 others, as emergency responders continue to investigate. The explosion occurred on the 12th floor of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi in Situn District (西屯) at 11:33am. One person was declared dead at the scene, while three people were declared deceased later after receiving emergency treatment. Another 20 people sustained major or minor injuries. The Taichung Fire Bureau said it received a report of the explosion at 11:33am and sent rescuers to respond. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation, it said. The National Fire
ALL-IN-ONE: A company in Tainan and another in New Taipei City offer tours to China during which Taiwanese can apply for a Chinese ID card, the source said The National Immigration Agency and national security authorities have identified at least five companies that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese identification cards while traveling in China, a source said yesterday. The issue has garnered attention in the past few months after YouTuber “Pa Chiung” (八炯) said that there are companies in Taiwan that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese documents. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) last week said that three to five public relations firms in southern and northern Taiwan have allegedly assisted Taiwanese in applying for Chinese ID cards and were under investigation for potential contraventions of the Act Governing
STAY WARM: Sixty-three nontraumatic incidents of OHCA were reported on Feb. 1, the most for a single day this year, the National Fire Agency said A total of 415 cases of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) occurred this month as of Saturday, data from the National Fire Agency showed as doctors advised people to stay warm amid cold weather, particularly people with cardiovascular disease. The Central Weather Administration yesterday issued a low temperature warning nationwide except for Penghu County, anticipating sustained lows of 10°C or a dip to below 6°C in Nantou, Yilan, Hualien and Taitung counties, as well as areas north of Yunlin County. The coldest temperature recorded in flat areas of Taiwan proper yesterday morning was 6.4°C in New Taipei City’s Shiding District (石碇). Sixty-three nontraumatic OHCA
COMMITTED: Lai said that Taiwan deeply appreciated the leaders’ statement, adding that the nation would remain steadfast in working to advance regional peace and prosperity US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait in a joint statement issued after they met in Washington for their first official meeting. Trump and Ishiba “affirmed their determination to pursue a new golden age for US-Japan relations that upholds a free and open Indo-Pacific and brings peace and prosperity to a violent and disorderly world,” the US-Japan Joint Leaders’ Statement said. “The two leaders emphasized the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait as an indispensable element of security and prosperity for the