Suicide Bombing Targeting Pakistani Police Kills at Least 26

Suicide Bombing Targeting Pakistani Police Kills at Least 26
The explosion, which officials said was carried out by a suicide bomber, targeted police officers during a campaign by city government officials against illegal construction
and encroachment by vendors and vegetable sellers on Ferozepur Road, in a busy neighborhood of Lahore, the capital of Punjab Province.
By SAMEEN KHAN and SALMAN MASOODJULY 24, 2017
LAHORE, Pakistan — At least 26 people were killed and 58 others were injured Monday afternoon in a suicide explosion
that targeted the police in eastern Pakistan, officials said.
Six or seven bodies were strewn on Ferozepur Road, Mr. Saif said, adding, "We thought it was an electrical transformer
but later learned it was a blast." The area around the blast site, including an office of Punjab’s chief minister, was immediately cordoned off by the police.
An obscure splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, which comprises mainly Pashtuns, released a video earlier in July
and warned of attacks in Punjab in retaliation for the Pakistan Army’s operation in the tribal regions.
Umar Saif, a provincial cabinet member with an office on the 11th floor, said he heard a "huge
blast." "The whole building reverberated, and a few windows were shattered," he said.
" Mr. Akram said. that I gave him the water to drink and tried to use the cloth as a bandage and took that man to the hospital,
A state of emergency was declared at all government hospitals in Lahore after the
bombing, which was condemned by government officials and political leaders.