An explosion killed at least one person and injured 22 in Pakistan’s teeming eastern city Lahore Monday, officials said, sending onlookers fleeing and shattering a growing sense of security in the provincial capital.
Police had cordoned off the area on Mall Road, one of the city’s main arteries, amid fears of a second blast as rescuers raced to the scene, with images of the injured being carried away shown by local media.
The incident occurred as hundreds of chemists protested a new law near the Punjab provincial assembly building, Rana Sanaullah, the provincial law minister, told AFP.
“We fear many injured,” he said.
Rescue official Deeba Shahnaz said a senior traffic official had died in the explosion, while at least 22 other wounded people had been rushed to city hospitals.
Up to 400 people had attended the protest, according to an AFP reporter who was on the scene when the explosion occurred.
“Suddenly there was a bang and a huge blast,” he said. “Everybody ran for safety.”
Lahore, the country’s cultural capital, suffered one of Pakistan’s worst attacks during 2016, a Taliban suicide bomb in a park on Easter that left more than 70 dead, including many children.
No group immediately claimed Monday’s explosion, but the same faction of the Pakistani Taliban responsible for the Easter blast recently vowed it would continue carrying out attacks.
Social media users were quick to suggest the blast was meant to derail plans to hold the highly-anticipated final of the Pakistan Super League in Lahore.
The second year of the Twenty20 tournament is currently being held in the United Arab Emirates out of security fears, but after a military crackdown on extremism officials were confident enough to plan for the final to take place in the cricket-mad city.
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