By Muhammad Luqman
Even a day after the bomb blast that ripped through Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore , police have not come to any conclusion who was the real target of this terrorist attack.
At least 45 people were injured in the explosion in a fruit truck stationed in a parking lot on city’s major artery, Band Road on Monday night.
The blast occurred at around 8:50pm. Apart from the injuries, dozens of vehicles were damaged and the roof of a building caved in, while the windows of many buildings in a 500-metre radius of the blast had also shattered.
Some political analysts believe that the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Sunday rally could have been the target of the explosive laden truck that remained abandoned for three days, without being noticed by police and other law enforcing agencies.
Incidentally, Nawaz Sharif’s cancelled Sunday rally was scheduled to pass through the same road.
Right after the blast, high voltage lines on power poles a few metres from the truck fell over and a transformer was also damaged, and Saggian Grid Station tripped, plunging the various localities of Western Lahore including Sanda , Islampura and Outfall road into darkness. Supply of power was restored on Tuesday morning at around 6.00 a.m.
Initial investigations suggest that explosives were involved in the blast. Operations Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Dr Haider Ashraf said the explosives may have triggered accidentally, adding that the truck had come from Swat and had been parked there for the last three days. He added that they have started investigations and would arrest the people who brought the truck into the city.
The blast also left a 10-foot crater where the truck was parked. Forensic experts and investigators said that between 80 and 100 kg of explosives were used. An investigator said that most of the injuries were due to shrapnel from the truck and glass from windows.
Last month, 26 people, including nine policemen, were martyred and 58 others were injured in a suicide hit on Ferozepur Road. In April, six people including army personnel were killed in a suicide attack on a census team on Bedian Road. On February 13, over two dozen people including two senior police officers were killed in a suicide blast on Mall Road.
