Daily Times

LAHORE: Unidentified attackers hurled a hand grenade on the Lahore office of a local television channel on Tuesday evening, injuring four people.

According to initial reports, two policemen and a channel staffer was injured in the grenade attack. Police constables Ejaz and Nazir suffered injuries in the attack. The attackers also threw pamphlets inscribed with threats from “Daulat-i-Islamia Khorasan group” (Islamic State- Khorasan group). “Islamic State of Khorasan claims responsibility for this attack. We will continue to attack deviant rulers, their forces and their abettors (the media). People belonging to the Ahl-e-Sunnat sect shall stay away from these targets,” read the pamphlet reportedly thrown at the crime scene.

Last month, a similar attack outside another news channel in Faisalabad had left three of the channel’s employees injured. The attackers had also thrown pamphlets with threats from the same group. On Friday, gunmen attacked a new channel’s Digital Satellite News Gathering (DSNG) van in the Essa Nagri area of Karachi, leaving one staffer injured. The attackers on motorcycles fired straight at the DSNG van near Essa Nagri, leaving technician Hassan Mateen severely injured.

Mateen was taken to a private hospital for treatment. The attack was widely condemned by all sections of society and journalist organisations had announced protests. Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah had condemned the attack in strong words while claiming that government will bring the culprits to justice as soon as possible