New Delhi, November 3 – At least 55 people, including 11 women and three security personnel, were killed and nearly 200 injured when a suicide attacker detonated a powerful bomb at Wagah in Pakistan on Sunday, minutes after the popular flag-lowering ceremony at the main Indo-Pak land border crossing.
“A large number of people were returning after watching Rangers flag ceremony at Wagah border when a suicide bomber blew himself up near one of the exit gates,” Inspector General Police of Punjab Police Mushtaq Sukhera said. He said three Pakistani Rangers were also among the dead.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly condemned a suicide attack in Wagah border in Pakistan, terming it as a “shocking” and “a dastardly act of terrorism”. He expressed condolences to the families of the deceased and sent prayers for the injured. “Terror attack in Pakistan near Wagah border is shocking,” Modi tweeted. “I strongly condemn such a dastardly act of terrorism,” he added.
Officials said that it was a suicide attack and at least 55 people, including women, children and security personnel, had been killed and 200 had sustained injuries. In the wake of Muharram, the police had made strict security arrangements.
“The Rangers had made stringent security measures but it was difficult to check suicide bomber,” said Sukhera. “We had reports that some banned outfits might target Shias, religious personalities, public processions and important buildings.”
He said: “It appears that he (the bomber) is a young man of 20-25 years. At least 15 to 20 kilogramme explosives have been used in the blast, showing some of the explosives was in his suicide jacket and remaining he might have carried.”
Punjab Rangers Director General Khan Tahir Khan said: “The suicide bomber failing to enter the main gate leading to the parade lane blew himself up 500 to 600 metres away…Three rangers personnel present at the main gate have been killed while five others suffered critical injuries.”
Al-Qaeda affiliated militant group Jandullah, which was behind a suicide bombing that killed at least 78 Christians at a church in Peshawar in September 2013, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The spokesman of the splinter group of the Tehreek-i- Taliban Pakistan (TTP)Ahmed Marwat said the attack was a reaction to Pakistani military’s operation Zarb-i-Azb and Waziristan operation against insurgents. But another militant faction Jamat-ul-Ahrar, which broke away from the main TTP leadership in September, rubbished the claim and said they were behind the blast.
Huge crowds gather every evening at the Wagah crossing, 22 kilometres from Lahore, to watch a “lowering of the flags” ceremony and witness the display of military pageantry that accompanies the formal closing of the border post which soldiers from both countries have conducted for decades.
Sukhera said the bomber was stopped at the gate of the parade ground at the border and detonated the bomb right when people gathered near the gate. “The bomb exploded outside a restaurant near a Pakistani paramilitary soldiers’ checkpoint at Wagah border,” he added.
“People were returning after watching the parade at Wagah border when the blast took place. Ball bearings were found at the scene,” another police official said. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed “grief and sorrow” and condemned the blast. He ordered authorities to provide best medical assistance to the injured.
-INDIA TODAY
