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Blasts rock Lahore; at least 28 dead

02 September 2010 01:23 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. At least 28 people are dead and at least 218 others were injured Wednesday after three blasts during a Shiite procession here, authorities in Pakistan said, APA reports quoting CNN.
Khalid Ranjha, a Lahore government official, said two of the dead are children and two others are women, and seven of those injured are in critical condition.
The three explosions occurred in a radius of about 600 meters (2,000 feet).
The nature of the first and third blasts was not known, but the second blast was thought to be the work of a suicide bomber, whose head was found at the scene, said Khusro Pervez, a senior government official.
He said extra security measures had been put in place for the procession, but the incidents took place around the time of the daily breaking of the Ramadan fast, and security may have been lax.
"It was a security lapse. At the end of the procession, security should have been more vigilant," Pervez said. "The incident happened because of security breach."
Pakistan is a largely Sunni Muslim nation, and the attack on Shiite Muslims conjures up thoughts of the long-standing tensions between the two groups in the Middle East and Asia.
Paramilitary forces have been deployed to the streets to bring order. Local TV channels showed pictures of angry people burning vehicles, beating police and trying to break into a police station.