Lahore: 27 killed, nearly 326 injured; ISI agents, 11 policemen among the dead

[Naveed Yaseen]

* 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.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...2009_pg1_1