Daily Times

LAHORE: Another victim of the Monday’s bomb blast on Outfall Road expired in hospital on Tuesday, taking the toll to two, with fear looming that the death toll could be increased as four to five life-threatening injured were under treatment.

The Counter Terrorism Department has registered a case of the bomb blast against unidentified terrorists. The CTD had also taken into custody four employees of the truck stand where the blast occurred.

Police also launched search operations in different parts of the city and arrested several suspects following the blast. However, security officials and police were still unable to arrest any suspect linked to the bomb blast till the filing of this report.

Meanwhile, security was beefed up in the city and strict checking of vehicles at entry and exit points of the city was being carried out.

A strong explosion in a truck at a parking stand on Outfall Road on Monday evening had left one person dead and more than 40 others injured in the latest bombing to rattle the eastern city of Lahore ahead of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s planned rally on Grand Trunk (GT) Road scheduled for Wednesday.

“The explosive material was planted inside a truck which was loaded with fruit,” said Abdullah Khan Sumbal, a top government official in Lahore.

The powerful blast damaged, partially or heavily, more than 100 vehicles, such as cars, mini-trucks and motorcycles parked at the stand.

The initial investigation suggested that the truck was carrying crates of apricots being transported from Swat to the city. The truck had been at the stand for the last three days. Authorities have yet to ascertain the exact route of the truck from Swat to Lahore.

On July 24, a suicide bomber killed 26 people and wounded more than 50 in a market in Ferozepur area. In April, six others were killed in a similar action. In February 2017, at least 14 more died in an attack on a team that was part of the national census campaign near Bedian Road.

Published in Daily Times, August 9^th 2017.