Multan blast claims 12 lives: Rescue 1122

 MULTAN: Casualties are feared in the twin blasts in Qasim Bela area of Multan Cantt near a building of a sensitive agency, Geo News reported Tuesday.

Rescue teams including 1122, police and other relief teams arrived on the spot. Police put security cordon around the whole area of blast site.

The injured are being shifted to the nearby hospitals including Nishtar Hospital, Civil Hospital and CMH, where state of emergency has been declared.

According to Geo News correspondent, two bomb blasts occurred where casualties are feared. The blast was so powerful that the windowpanes of the nearby buildings were smashed to pieces.

The media is denied access to the blast site thanks to the sensitivity of the area.

It should be mentioned that the blast occurred in the constituency of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani.

According to an eyewitness, he was passing from the area when he heard a low-intensity blast followed by a massive explosion, adding the ISI building was more than half damaged as a result of bombings.

Blast heard in Multan cantt

 MULTAN: A blast has been reported in cantt area of Multan, sources said.

Blast heard in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: A powerful blast occurred in Peshawar and the smoke is seen billowing from the blast site, Geo News reported Tuesday.

The nature of the blast could not been ascertained as yet.

BREAKING NEWS : Lahore blasts toll rises to 49, injures 180: DCO

 LAHORE: The death tally of Lahore twin blasts has mounted to 49 while another 180 persons sustained injuries including some in the worst critical condition, according to Sajjad Bhutta, District Coordination Officer (DCO) Lahore.

According to sources, the two consecutive blasts ripped through Lahore’s commercial center late on Monday night.

According to sources, the first blast was a suicide attack while the second was detonated through remote control device. However, the district administration said that both the blasts were result of suicide bombing and that the heads of both the bombers have been recovered from the site of the incident.

The Edhi Welfare Trust sources have put the death toll at 49. On the other hand, CCPO Lahore Pervez Rathor has confirmed deaths of 37 people in both the attacks. The number of injured is over 180, he added.

Initially, the Director General Rescue Operation said that 38 people died in the incident while 90 others were injured.

Those hurt also included women and children.

The two blasts occurred within seconds of each other at Lahore’s busy Moon Market in Allama Iqbal Town locality here. The first blast took place in the middle of the market while the second one near a private bank.

Fire erupted in the market immediately after the blasts, engulfing a number of shops and motorcycles parked in the nearby parking space.

The powerful blasts also shattered the windowpanes of the surrounding buildings.

Rescue efforts were immediately got underway after the blasts and the bodies and injured persons were started to be rushed in 1122 ambulances to nearby hospitals where emergency had been declared shortly after the tragic incident.

Some of the injured persons are said to be critical in condition.

DCO Lahore and heavy police contingents along with high officials reached the spot of the tragic incident.

Moon market is a commercial center of Iqbal Town, Lahore, where shoppers are normally present in large numbers. A suicide attack had also been launched at a police station in this area on 13 August last year in which 8 people lost their lives.