600 kg of explosives used in Lahore car bomb blast, death toll 11

LAHORE - At least 11 people, including a young schoolgirl and her mother, were killed and 61 others injured, when a suicide bomber rammed his car laden with 600 kilograms of explosives into the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) office in Lahore on Monday.

The injured included 13 women, who were rushed to Jinnah hospital here.ccording to reports, the suicide bomber rammed his car into the main gate of the FIA building, where suspects are usually kept under interrogation, at 8.15 a.m.

Witnesses said the FIA building has completely collapsed and a number of people are still buried under the rubble, The Dawn reports.

TV reports said some of the neighbouring buildings had also been damaged in the explosion.

A number of schools and religious institutions are located in the neighbourhood known as Model Town. The area is considered as most secure area with 60 security gates and except four, all gates are closed after 10 p.m.

A number of prominent politicians, including the former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif live in Model Town.

There was no immediately claim of responsibility for the blast, which came after a lull of several months in attacks on military and security targets in Pakistan’s main cities by Al-Qaeda militants and their affiliates in the Pakistani Taliban.

Meanwhile, security levels have been raised to high alert across the city.

The quantity of explosives used in the bombing is 100 kilograms more than the quantity used in the Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombing in September 2008, when a dump truck filled with explosives detonated in front of the hotel, killing at least 54 people and injuring at least 266.

The explosion had left a 20-meter wide deep crater outside the hotel. (ANI)