A devastating suicide bombing has reportedly killed over 50 people and injured at least 100 more in a suicide bombing close to Pakistan’s only border crossing with India.
The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack. Other militant groups – including Jundullah, an Islamist terrorist militant group associated with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), – have also said they were behind the atrocity.
Officials said that three members of their Pakistani border force had died.
The blast was detonated near the checkpoint at the Wagah border crossing, near Lahore. Large crowds gather there every day to watch an elaborate flag-lowering ceremony as the border closes.
Mushtaq Sukhera, the Punjab police chief, told the Reuters news agency the blast had happened when a suicide attacker near a restaurant after the day’s ceremony.
Pakistani opposition politician Imran Khan described the blast as an “act of terror”.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the attack as a “dastardly act of terrorism”.
AOAV has looked extensively at the harm of suicide bombings in Pakistan.
We have launched an anti-suicide bomb video and published a report on the harm to civilians caused by suicide attacks in this beleaguered country.
Our thoughts go out to the wounded and the relatives of the dead.
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