Photo DAWN TV

WEB DESK

At least 10 people, including five police commandos of Elite Force, have been killed in a suicide bomb blast outside the famous Data Darbar shrine in Lahore Wednesday. The incident also left 25 others injured.

Lahore Police spokesperson said the suicide bomber was about 15 years old and made no suspected movement before blowing himself up.

The Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JeA), a breakaway faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has claimed the responsibility for the attack.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has strongly condemned the attack and directed the authorities to provide all assistance to the injured and families of victims.

The Data Darbar shrine is visited by hundreds of thousands of people each year. In 2010, the shrine was targeted in a suicide attack that killed more than 40 people.

‘Police 100pc the target’

A pair of suicide attacks at the popular 11th-century Sufi shrine in 2010 killed and wounded dozens of people. Since then, the area has been increasingly hemmed in by heavy security, with visitors forced to pass through several layers of screening before they can enter the complex.

A police vehicle was badly damaged in blast near Data Darbar in Lahore. — DawnNewsTV
IGP Arif Nawaz, while addressing a press conference, said that police are posted near the shrine around the clock to provide security.

He said that authorities had maintained a general security alert, but there had been no specific warning about a threat to the shrine.

The IGP said the attacker could have caused more damage because of the direction he had approached from, but he instead made a beeline for the police car stationed in the area for the protection of the shrine.

According to the DIG Operations Ashfaq Khan, some 306 police officials in the city have lost their lives in the line of duty.(Dawn)