A fatal explosion has killed two and injured 22 others, and it is yet another sad example of an industrial accident taking the lives of those who were just trying to make an honest living.
This time it was an overseas incident, but it is still a tough thing for these workers and their families to go through.
The blast was near Lahore’s Lohari Gate area on Thursday, and it killed at least two individuals – including one child – and injured at least 22 others, according to officials.
The windows of nearby shops and other buildings were shattered in this explosion, and there were even some motorcycles that were damaged in the blast.
Lahore Deputy Inspector-General of Operations, Dr. Muhammad Abid Khan, told a news outlet that their investigation was still in the initial stages and they hadn’t fully ascertained the nature of the blast.
The law enforcement official said that the blast had created a crater in the ground that was at least 1.5 feet deep. They sent the injured people to Mayo Hospital.
There are literally thousands of people who come to this area each day because of the immense amount of marketplaces and variety of businesses that are located in the area.
Officials at Mayo Hospital said that at least four people are in critical condition, but the doctors are trying their best to save their lives. The medics are giving first aid to the other injured people.
They have now cordoned off the area and they are gathering evidence from the scene where the explosion went off.
“Initially it seems that this is a planted [bomb] device that has caused this explosion,” senior police official Abid Khan told reporters at the scene.
Most of those that were wounded were hit by shrapnel in their lower limbs, according to police official Khan.
No group had immediately claimed responsibility for the attack either.
There is no question that Pakistan has seen a series of small-scale attacks targeting not just civilians, but also policemen and security forces. This has increased significantly after the breakdown in talks between the government and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP, also known as the Pakistani Taliban) armed group.
It was on Monday that a policeman was killed and two others were wounded when a checkpoint in the Islamabad capital came under fire from gunmen, and the interior minister warned that this might be the start of a new wave of attacks. The TTP did claim responsibility for that attack in one of their statements sent to journalists on Tuesday.
