LAHORE: A powerful car bomb went off near the residence of outlawed Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed in Lahore’s Johar Town area on Wednesday, killing at least three people, including a minor, and injuring 24 others.
The blast took place at a police picket manning the JuD chief’s house at BOR Society in Johar Town. No banned militant outfit immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Jinnah Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Yahya Sultan told reporters that more than 24 people were brought to the state-run facility out of which three people including a minor Abdul Haq expired.
According to an official report, a police constable, Muhammad Tahir, who was deployed at the picket outside Saeed’s residence, was said to be stable while the condition of four persons including two women, one of whom was pregnant, was critical till filing of this report. An infant was also among the injured.
The Jinnah Hospital officials said that those who were in critical condition were severely burnt and they had ball-bearings in their skin. They also appealed people to donate blood to avoid further human loss. Meanwhile, the Punjab government imposed an emergency in all the public sector hospitals.
Eyewitnesses said the blast occurred at around 11:10am, damaging walls and windowpanes of several houses. “I was standing in my [car] showroom when the blast occurred. Meanwhile, I fell on the floor and couldn’t hear sound for some time,” said Muhammad Ahmed while talking to Business Recorder.
“My vision got blurred for some time and I remained unable to see what was happening around me,” he added. Meanwhile, Ahmed said, a Rescue 1122 official came and pulled him up and provided him first aid.
Another person, Abdul Wahab, said that some people also came out of their homes and were running here and there in distress. After the incident, a heavy contingent of police and other law enforcement agencies reached the spot and placed pickets on Allah Hu Chowk. However, no barricade was placed on the other side of the main road and the streets that are linked to the crime scene. Usually, LEAs completely sealed the area.
According to the preliminary investigation report presented to Punjab IGP Inam Ghani, official sources said that law enforcement agencies declared that it was a terrorist strike apparently targeting “police officials” manning the residence of the JuD chief. The report would be presented to Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, they added.
They said as per the initial investigation it emerged that an improvised-explosive device (IED) having more than 30 kilogrammes of ‘foreign explosives’ was used in the blast which was implanted in a car parked inside a house near the JuD chief’s house.
Police said that walls and windowpanes of buildings within the radius of 100 square feet had damaged severely. Also, the roofs of the house in which the car exploded caved in. The explosion caused a crater measuring three feet deep and eight feet wide.
Earlier in the day, Punjab IGP Inam Ghani, who visited the area hours after the incident, told reporters that police were guarding Hafiz Saeed’s house at the time of the “terrorist attack” resulting in serious injuries to some officials.
He said the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) Punjab has fully taken over the investigation and requested people and the media to avoid “speculations”.
When asked which militant outfit could be behind the attack, the IG said that terrorist attacks are usually carried out by hostile intelligence agencies that want to harm our country and its progress. “The latest threat-alert was also for the law enforcement agencies,” he added.
Asked whether the house of Hafiz was on the target, the IG said that as far as the house of “high-value target” is concerned, “had the pickets were not placed [outside Saeed’s residence], the car could have reached somewhere else. The terrorists failed to cause much damage due to these pickets.”
To a query how the terrorists reached the BOR society despite the fact that all the surroundings of the area are under the surveillance of numerous CCTV cameras of Punjab Safe Cities Authority (PSCA) and guarded by patrolling teams of the Lahore police, the police chief advised not to speculate things and recalled the sacrifices of the Punjab police against terrorism.
On the other hand, a woman while talking to the media at the crime scene challenged the police’s story alleging that a man on a motorbike carried out a ‘racy’ in the street two to three times before the blast. She claimed that the unidentified man parked his bike in front of the police checkpoint and fled from the scene in the presence of police officers present in a police mobile. Meanwhile, the motorbike exploded, she claimed.
Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar sought a detailed inquiry report from the IG Police and city district government. He said the government would compensate the affected people.
Reuters adds: A spokesman for the charity told Reuters Saeed was in prison and so not at his home on Wednesday.
AFP adds: It was unclear whether the car was packed with explosives that were remotely detonated, or if a suicide bomber was behind the blast.
Footage aired by private TV channels showed rescue workers sifting through mangled vehicles and rubble.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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