| Will Pakistan end up like Somalia or Yemen? Mr. Jinnah, Father of Pakistan, must be questioning his Two Nations theory about now -- poorly as the Muslims of India are doing (educational accomplishment down at the level of the Untouchables, because they insist on sending their children to madrassahs instead of proper schools), at least they aren't being terrorized by their own. |
Punjab province, Tuesday killed at least 32 people and maimed 125 others, DawnNews reported.The kaboom also damaged nearby buildings.
An office of the Pakistain International Airlines (PIA) and a local gas station were severely damaged in the blast, AP reported. Police said the attack took place close to the office of a "sensitive" security agency but the building was undamaged, the AP report said.
Senior government official Naseem Sadiq said explosives were planted in a vehicle parked at the gas station, which also lies near police offices as well as the PIA building.
Regional police chief Aftab Cheema confirmed the attack in Faisalabad, the country's textile-making capital.
"It was a car boom blast. The explosive was planted in a car. We are investigating whether a jacket wallah was involved or not," Cheema said.
Television pictures showed the station had been reduced to a pile of bricks and gnarled metal as rescue officials worked to remove rubble from the scene to search for survivors and ambulance vehicles ferried the injured away.
City commissioner Tahir Husain told a private television channel that rescue officials were heaving bricks and metal away to save those trapped.
"There are some people trapped under the building rubble. We have deployed our cranes and machinery to rescue them very soon," he added.
Husain told a private television channel that no suicide kaboomer was involved.
"It was not a suicide kaboom. It was a planted kaboom. The bomb went
kaboom!near the gas cylinders that triggered a bigger blast," he said.
Husain said that the attack could have targeted government buildings close to the gas station site, some of which he said were damaged in the blast.
Taliban claim responsibility
The Pak Taliban said they carried out the car booming, an AP report said.
Taliban front man Ahsanullah Ahsan said the target of the blast was an office of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Ahsan said the blast was Dire Revenge™ for the killing of a Death Eater by security forces in Faisalabad last year.
Pakistain has been wracked by violence, mostly targeting security officials.
Some 4,000 people have been killed in kabooms, suicide and gun attacks blamed on Taliban and al Qaeda gunnies since July 2007.