Pakistani Security Forces Targeted In The Lahore Bomb Blast

Apparently, it appears that Pakistani Police were the main victims of the powerful bomb blast which occurred in Lahore on Wednesday, May 8. This is not the first time that the Sufi Shrine, known as Data Darbar, in Lahore, the capital of Pakistani Punjab has seen such a terror. According to television footage and the local media, a vehicle belonging to a unit of senior security officials, who were on routine duty at the Shrine, was targeted by the suicide bomber.

This renowned place of pilgrimage, where Pakistanis flock in large numbers, ought to be shielded with heavy security. Previously, more than 40 people died in a pair of suicide attacks at the Shrine in 2010. Data Darbar is the largest Sufi shrine in Asia. It is the burial of Sufi saint Ali Hajveri. It feeds 50,000 people for free every day. This tradition, referred to as a broader version of langar is being followed since a thousand years.

Ghazanfar Ali, the Police Chief of Lahore and Muhammad Kashif, a local police official, said that the blast may have been “a suicide attack targeting security officials’ vehicle”, meaning that police officers were the apparent target of the bombing. The Police Chief added that hundreds of pilgrims were moving in and out of the shrine during the blast.

Reports say that at least four people were killed and 23 others wounded in the horrifying incident. Some of the injured are in critical condition. Police said that they are in search of further details.