Pakistan grills suspects over Lahore attack

Pakistan on Thursday interrogated suspects over a gun, grenade and bomb attack that demolished a police building and damaged intelligence offices as suspicion mounted against the Taliban.

A van packed with nearly 100 kilogrammes (220 pounds) of explosives in Lahore blew up and levelled the police building, partially damaging offices of Pakistan’s premier Inter-Services Intelligence agency, investigators said.

Three attackers had stepped out of the van, opened fire and thrown a grenade. One of them was shot dead by guards.

Seconds later the van exploded, killing the other two in the security nerve centre of the eastern city. Officials said 24 people were killed and about 300 wounded.

The government interpreted the attack as revenge for a month-long military offensive designed to eliminate the Taliban in the northwest Swat district and a website published a purported claim from an alleged Taliban splinter group.

A group called “Tehrik-i-Taliban Punjab” claimed responsibility in Turkish, in a statement posted on Turkish jihadi websites through an intermediary organisation, said US specialist Islamist monitoring group SITE.

The monitors quoted the group as saying the attack “targeted the ‘nest of evil’ in Lahore, and was a ‘humble gift’ to the mujahideen who suffer beneath the attacks of Pakistani forces in Swat”.

A top Pakistani security official said that while a similar claim emerged over a Shiite mosque bombing that killed 22 people on April 5, investigators believed no such organisation exists.

LAHORE, Thursday, AFP