Three people, including a nine-year-old child, were killed while over two-dozen injured when a blast tore through a bustling market chowk near Lohari Gate, a prominent entrance of the historic walled city.
According to the Lahore police, initial investigation showed that a 1.5 kilogramme improvised explosive device (IED) was planted in a motorcycle parked next to a pushcart outside a bank, which was the cause of the blast.
“It was an IED (improvised explosive device) blast,” Lahore Deputy Inspector General of Police Operations Abid Khan told media men at the emergency gate of Lahore Mayo Hospital where the deceased and the injured were shifted. The DIG was flanked by Lahore Deputy Commissioner Umer Sher Chatha.
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Chatha said the bomb disposal squad officials had briefed him on the blast, saying that it was a high-intensity one as its impacted left behind a crater at Pan Mandi in the Anarkali area.
The deceased were identified as Absar Salman, 9, Yasir Ali, 16, and Muhammad Ramzan Boota, 31. Absar passed away during treatment at the Mayo Hospital. He had come from Karachi to visit his uncle in Lahore and was scheduled to head back to Karachi, a few hours after the explosion.
According to the deputy commissioner, of the 28 people injured, the condition of four admitted to the hospital is critical.
One building and eight motorbikes were damaged in the gruesome terrorist act, while windows of nearby shops and buildings were also shattered.
The site where the blast occurred is a junction point of many bazaars. On one side is the medicine market, adjacent to it is the flowers market, dozens of food points, and a few yards away are dry fruit shops, plastic stores, printing markets etc.
At the time of the blast, the market was crowded with people, including families.
A CCTV footage showed fire had erupted near the cart right after the explosion with scattered flowers, torched bikes, people on the ground – a few unconscious, while the others gaining courage to rub their wounds or cover injuries. Several brave people could be seen covering the body parts scattered around the site of the blast and the faces of the deceased with pieces of cloths.
They also tried to douse the flames of burning bikes and other material.
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“The people did not wait for the rescue teams to arrive and started rushing the victims to a hospital situated a few metres away from the blast site. As it is the busiest road of the city, it took the teams some time to reach there,” an eyewitness said.
“As I stepped outside my office after hearing the huge sound of the blast, the power of the whole area went out,” he added.
Initially, the authorities took it to be an accident – a cylinder explosion, but later it became clear that it was a bomb blast when a few injured claimed being hit by ball bearings and shrapnel.
Rescue 1122 spokesperson Muhammad Farooq said that an anonymous call had intimated them on the helpline that it was a “cylinder” blast. As the authorities realized the gravity of the incident, they rushed to the spot.
Local police and Dolphin Squad officials cordoned off the crime scene as the Punjab Forensic Science Agency and Bomb Disposal Squad experts, senior police officers-DIG Operations Khan, DIG Investigations Shahzada Sultan and Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) teams rushed to the site.
The forensic and crime scene experts collected evidence while investigators CCTV footages.
An FIR of the blast was registered at the Lahore CTD police station by SHO Abid Baig.
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According to a few eyewitnesses, a suspect had parked a bike outside a bank and left. Four minutes later, a blast occurred.
On the other hand, initial investigations are also suggesting that the bomb was in a bag and placed by the suspect near a cart. “It is similar to a blast that was reported in 2013 in Anarkali in a restaurant. Nine years back, the suspect had placed the bomb packed in a bag inside a restaurant,” an eyewitness said.
The blast had left five people dead and many injured and it was claimed by ‘Baloch Liberation Tigers’.
Meanwhile, IG Rao Sardar Ali Khan held a high-level meeting at the Punjab Safe City Authority which was attended by CTD Punjab DIG Waseem Sial among others.
“All resources must be utilised and culprits be captured immediately,” the Punjab IG said. “All the accused, including mastermind and facilitators of the Anarkali blast, will be arrested soon and brought to justice.”
The IG reviewed all the footages of the Anarkali blast. Safe Cities Authority, CTD and Lahore police officers gave a briefing, the Punjab police spokesperson said.
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The police has yet to make any statement about any lead about the involvement of any suspect or organisation.
However, a Twitter handler named Mureed Baloch identifying himself as spokesperson for the Baloch Nationalisy Army claimed responsibility for the attack. “We accept responsibility for targeting a bank in Anarkali Bazaar, Lahore with explosives. This attack targeted bank employees. A detailed statement will be issued soon,” he said.
Prime Minister Imran Khan, Opposition Leader in NA Shehbaz Sharif, other politicians, executives, celebrities, prominent personalities and public condemned the blast.
Within minutes, #LahoreBlast became the top trend on Twitter where people shared graphic images and videos condemning the terrorist act and demanded bringing the ones involved in it to justice.
وزیر اعظم عمران خان کا لاہور دھماکے میں قیمتی انسانی جانوں کے ضیاع پر اظہار افسوس۔
— Prime Minister's Office, Pakistan (@PakPMO) January 20, 2022
زخمیوں کو فوری طور پر طبی امداد کی فراہمی کی ہدایت
پنجاب حکومت سے واقع کی رپورٹ طلب pic.twitter.com/08tUvRcsTY
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