Suicide Bomber kills 26 in Pakistan

Thursday, January 10, 2008 LAHORE: At least 22 police and four civilians were killed Thursday when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the high court in the commercial heart of Lahore.

The bomber triggered a device packed with ball bearings when police stopped him outside the court.

According to initial police report, a 14-kilogram explosive charge was used in the device including four-kilogram of ball bearings and other material. The bomber used a suicide belt for the attack with explosives-laden pockets on both sides of the belt, police said.

The blast ripped through a busy square in the city center as dozens of riot police gathered ahead of a protest by lawyers against the rule of President Pervez Musharraf.

Up to 60 injured people, many of them police officers, were rushed to hospital after the explosion.

Dead police officers, dressed in full riot gear with protective vests and helmets, were seen lying side-by-side where they had fallen. A dead horse, still attached to a vendor's cart, lay nearby.

"Twenty-two policemen died in the attack, six are critically wounded," Lahore police chief Malik Iqbal said while talking to a French news agency. "Around 35 have minor injuries. The suicide bomber approached the police picket and was signaled to stop."

Hospital sources said four civilians were also killed in the attack.

"It was a very loud blast. I was one of the first who rushed out of the court and I saw a man bleeding from his nose and his mouth. He died minutes later," said lawyer Khurram Latif Khosa.

"I saw about 50 to 60 injured police, bleeding, scattered everywhere. They were asking for water. There were body parts on the ground."

A wounded officer with his clothes apparently blown off by the force of the blast lay in the street screaming for help as security forces scrambled to cordon off the downtown area.

Police said the head of the suspected suicide bomber had been found about 100 metres (330 feet) from the blast site, which was littered with the dead and wounded.

After visiting the blast site, Inspector General of Punjab Police Nasim Ahmed told reporters: "The target was the police force. "Today's bombing was to demoralize the Punjab police, but it will not. They have given their lives while performing their duty."

Information Minister Nisar Memon said the latest bombing was part of a terrorist campaign to disrupt the elections and derail democracy in the Muslim country of some 160 million people.

"But we want to make it very clear that elections will be held as scheduled," he told state television.

Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro said those responsible for Thursday's "cowardly act" were enemies of Pakistan. "Such elements are not believers in any religion or in any human ethics," he said.

Thursday's attack was the first suicide bombing in Lahore. It may be mentioned that in previous suicide attacks, explosives were filled in only one side of the belt; but, this time the evidence shows that the pockets at both sides of the belt were filled with the explosive material.

Police are bracing for more violence during the holy month of Moharram starting Friday.

This story was compiled from Pakistani TV sources