LAHORE, Pakistan - Two suicide bombers blew themselves up at a prestigious naval college in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on Tuesday, killing at least five people and injuring 19, officials said. The blasts sent thick black smoke billowing over the college and scattered debris and human remains at the scene, which is just off the city’s historic Mall Road. Two buses and several cars caught fire afterwards.“Two suicide bombers attacked the naval college,” Lahore police chief Malik Mohammad Iqbal told AFP. “The first drove into the security post and they opened fire. His head was blown over the wall into the naval compound by the force of the blast,” Iqbal added. “He cleared the way for the second bomber to drive into the parking lot where he also exploded himself.”
Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema said five people were killed and another 19 were wounded, according to initial reports. “The blasts were so huge they shook the windowpanes of my office opposite the college. I thought the building was collapsing,” Lahore lawyer Arif Saeed told AFP.
Navy spokesman Captain Akbar Naqi confirmed there were two suicide bombers and said that one navy personnel was among those killed. The Naval War College trains senior naval officials from Pakistan and from other countries including China, Sri Lanka and at least a dozen Muslim nations.