Wagah Border (Pakistan): At least 52 people, including children and security personnel, were killed and about 200 others injured in a powerful suicide blast in Pakistan at Wagah on Sunday, minutes after the popular flag- lowering ceremony at the main Indo-Pak land border crossing.
Officials said that it was suicide attack and at least 52 people had been killed and 200 had sustained injuries.
“A large number of people were returning after watching Rangers flag ceremony at Wagah border when a suicide bomber blew himself up near one of the exit gates,” Inspector General Police of Punjab Police Mushtaq Sukhera said.
He said three Pakistan Rangers personnel were also among the dead. To a question about security arrangements, Sukhera said,
“The Rangers had made stringent security measures but it was difficult to check suicide bomber”.
The al-Qaeda affiliated group Jandullah has claimed responsibility for the attack, according to Express News.
Huge crowds gather every evening at the crossing, 22 kilometres from Lahore, to watch a “lowering of the flags” ceremony and witness the energetic display of military pageantry that accompanies the formal closing of the border post which soldiers from both countries have conducted for decades.
Earlier reports had said it could be a cylinder blast. In the wake of Muharram, the police had made strict security measures. (PTI)