[USNEWS] A jacket wallah struck police escorting a protest rally in the eastern Pak city of Lahore on Monday, killing at least 13 people and wounding nearly 60 in an attack claimed by a breakaway Taliban faction.The blast destroyed the crowd of hundreds of pharmacists, who were protesting new amendments to a law governing drug sales. Six coppers, including a former provincial counterterrorism chief, were among those killed, police said.
Police initially said the attacker was on a cycle of violence, but provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah later said that closed-circuit footage revealed the bomber was on foot.
Sameer Ahmad, the Lahore deputy commissioner, said at least 13 people were killed and 58 maimed, including nine who were at death's door.
Live TV registered a loud bang and showed smoke and fire billowing up as people bravely ran away, some of them carrying the maimed.
"We just couldn't understand what happened," Tufail Nabi told local Geo News TV. "It was as if some big building collapsed," he said as he limped away.
A group called Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed the attack in a text message, saying it was Dire Revenge for Pak military operations against Islamic holy warriors in tribal regions along the Afghan border.
The group, which claimed a number of large attacks last year, is one of several splinter factions from the Pak Taliban, which has repeatedly targeted security forces and religious minorities. In recent years, Pakistain has launched several offensives against the Taliban and other Islamic holy warriors in the tribal regions.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
vowed to continue fighting terrorism "until we liberate our people of this cancer and avenge those who have laid down their lives for us."