A suicide bomber killed at least six people and wounded 18 when he blew himself up near an army vehicle taking part in a census in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on Wednesday, officials in the area said. Punjab government spokesman Malik Ahmed Khan told Geo TV that four soldiers and two civilian bystanders were among the dead.

Start the conversation, or Read more at Reuters. </s> LAHORE, Pakistan: A suicide bomber killed at least four people and wounded 18 when he blew himself up near an army vehicle in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on Wednesday, a police official said.

The blast hit a vehicle taking part in Pakistan's census, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. </s> A suicide bomb blast has hit an army vehicle in the Pakistani city of Lahore, according to local authorities.

A police official told the Reuters news agency that at least four people were killed and 18 others wounded in Wednesday's attack. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the media.

Pakistan is currently carrying out its first census since the last was held in 1998. The military is helping the Civilian Bureau of Statistics carry out a door-to-door survey of the population.

The vehicle that was carrying the census team was approached on the outskirts of Lahore by a motorcycle, Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Peshawar, said.

The suicide bomber riding the motorcycle detonated the device, killing two civilians who were part of the census team, Hyder said. </s> LAHORE, Pakistan: A suicide bomber killed at least six people and wounded 18 when he blew himself up near an army vehicle taking part in a census in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on Wednesday, officials in the area said.

Punjab government spokesman Malik Ahmed Khan told Geo TV that four soldiers and two civilian bystanders were among the dead.

TV footage showed security personnel blocking off the street around the site of the explosion, close to a market.

The blast, the latest in a series that has killed scores of people in Pakistan since the beginning of the year, follows an attack in Lahore last month that killed at least 13 and wounded dozens more.

There was no initial claim of responsibility for the explosion, which some television stations initially said had been caused by a gas leak. </s> At least seven people were killed and up to 19 were wounded in a suicide blast in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore on Wednesday. The bombing claimed by the Pakistani Taliban targeted an army vehicle taking part in the census, killing five soldiers and two civilians. As per reports, security personnel blocked the street around the site of the explosion, close to an elite police training school which was the site of a Pakistani Taliban attack in 2009.

According to the reports by AFP, “Witnesses were knocked to the ground by the blast, then a “horrible scene” of blood and bodies and the sound of crying. Security forces cordoned off the area on Bedian Road in the bustling capital of Punjab province.”

At least 13 people were killed in another attack in Lahore last month. The census exercise is under process after two decades in Pakistan, and for the security concerns, census officials are being accompanied by Pakistan military to conduct data. And the targeting of persons involved in the census underlines the vulnerabilities of government institutions in Pakistan.

Pakistan army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa said the census would be completed “at any cost”. Earlier today, speaking with Geo News, Sindh IGP AD Khawaja said on Wednesday that Special arrangements will be made to ensure the security of census teams working in sensitive areas.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App now </s> At least six people have been killed and 18 others wounded in an explosion on an army census team in the Pakistani city of Lahore.

LAHORE, PAKISTAN—A suicide bomber detonated his explosives near a vehicle carrying census workers in eastern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing six people — two data collectors and four soldiers who were escorting them, a government spokesman and police said.

The attack took place on the outskirts of Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, said Malik Ahmad Khan, the provincial government spokesperson. The border with India is several kilometres away from the site of the explosion.

A local police official, Mohammad Afzal, said that along with the six killed, 15 people were wounded in the blast.

TV stations aired footage showing the census workers’ badly destroyed vehicle. The blast was so powerful that it also damaged nearby shops.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, but Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban, as well as the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militants and Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL, have all claimed past attacks in Punjab. </s> At least six people have been reported killed and 15 injured in an explosion in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore.

"This was a suicide blast," Punjab government spokesman Malik Ahmed Khan said on April 5, adding that the attack targeted an army vehicle taking part in Pakistan's census.

Khan said the dead included four soldiers and two civilians.

"It appears to have been an act of terrorism," Punjab provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said.

The Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) extremist group claimed responsibility for what it called a suicide attack.

On February 13, a Taliban suicide-bomb attack in Lahore, the capital of Punjab Province, killed 14 people.

With reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters </s> LAHORE - Four soldiers of Pakistan Army and an off-duty officer of Pakistan Air Force were among six men who died in a suicide blast on Lahore’s Bedian Road early Wednesday.

At least 18 persons, including nine military personnel, were admitted to hospitals with multiple injuries following the suicide blast, the second in Lahore since February. The death toll could rise as condition of three of the wounded was reported to be critical.

Over one and a half dozen army personnel were going to join census duties in a private van when the blast took place at Manawala bus stop near Bhatta Chowk.

Reportedly, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan accepted responsibility for the attack. In a statement TTP said it had carried out the attack in revenge on security forces.

An eyewitness said the bomber, said to be in his early 20s, approached security men when they were getting off the van. The blast was so powerful that it badly damaged the van. “I was going to appear in a practical exam with my father in a car when the blast happened. My father was also wounded seriously,” a teenage boy told reporters at a hospital bed.

Another teenage boy said he was waiting for transport at the bus stop when a powerful blast knocked him down. “I fell on the ground and lost consciousness,” said Abid who was admitted to Lahore General Hospital with bleeding ears.

A number of fruit and vegetable vendors were busy in their business when the blast occurred in the busy locality. Bedian Road is used by many commuters to reach DHA’s upscale Phase-V neighbourhood.

Police investigators said they believe the attacker and his facilitator, both not identified yet, were chasing the white-colour van on a motorcycle. The handler fled instantly after dropping the bomber at a bus stop as security personnel arrived there in a private van.

Wednesday’s blast comes barely two months after the suicide attack on The Mall that killed 14 people, including six police officers.

Punjab’s Counter-Terrorism Department last night said, “It was a suicide blast.” The CTD spokesperson said six men, including four army personnel, died in the blast. “The attacker who got down from motorcycle blew himself up near the army personnel, resulting in six deaths and 18 injuries,” the spokesman said.

Five men, including three army personnel, died on the spot while another security officer succumbed to wounds at a hospital hours later. Nine military personnel were admitted to Lahore’s Combined Military Hospital with multiple injuries.

The martyred military personnel were identified as Havaldar Riaz, Lance Naik Irshad, Sepoy Muhammad Sajid and Sepoy Abdur Rehman. Another two victims named by police as Muhammad Boota and Awais were said to be local residents.

A serving officer of Pakistan Air Force, Awais, riding in a car along with his wife Tehmina, was going home when the blast took place close to their vehicle. Awais who was enjoying leave with his family died instantly while his wife was admitted to Lahore’s PAF hospital with serious injuries.

The funeral prayers for the martyred servicemen were held at Ayyub Stadium Wednesday evening. Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Governor Rafique Rajwana, Lahore Corps Commander Lt-Gen Sadiq Ali, top police officers and a large number of military officers attended the funeral prayers.

Corps Commander Lt-Gen Sadiq Ali visited the hospitals to enquire after the wounded. On this occasion, he vowed the attackers behind the Bedian Road incident would not go unpunished. “The indiscriminate operation against terrorists will continue,” a private TV channel quoted the commander as saying during his visit to the Lahore CMH.

Forensic experts, police investigators and intelligence operatives rushed to the blast site soon after the incident. They were seen collecting evidences from the crime scene.

Police and security forces launched a crackdown in the locality soon after the blast and arrested four terror suspects. The van driver, Usman, who was also injured in the blast, is said to be among the suspects detained after the attack.

An official of the bomb disposal squad told this reporter that that at least 10-kg explosive was used in the blast. He said they also recovered ball bearings from the crime scene. The head of the bomber was recovered some 30 feet away from the place where he detonated his vest, police investigators said.

A criminal case under Anti-Terrorism Act was registered with Lahore’s CTD police station on the complaint of the station house officer.

According to the FIR, the SHO was on routine monitoring duty when he saw a white van stopping near Manawala stop on Bedian Road near Bhatta Chowk. “The van was carrying army personnel on census duty. The SHO then saw two persons on a motorcycle stopping one of whom disembarked while the other sped away. The attacker who alighted from the motorcycle blasted himself near the army personnel resulting in six deaths and 18 injuries.

A joint investigation team, comprising CTD police, security and intelligence officers, has launched investigations to unearth those who masterminded or facilitated the terror attack.

A Punjab police spokesman said security was intensified across the province in the wake of Lahore blast. He said field officers were directed to remain on their toes and ensure best security around worship places, key government installations and educational institutions, particularly those with co-education.

The top government officials, including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, President Mamnoon Hussain, Punjab CM Shehbaz Sharif and Punjab Governor Rafique Rajwana strongly condemned the attack.

Lahore was already placed under high alert. Security agencies had also warned the provincial government of the possible suicide attack two weeks ago. The photo of an alleged bomber was also displayed in the police stations of the provincial metropolis and people were requested to inform the police if they saw Irfan, the man in picture.

white van stopping near Manawala stop on Bedian Road near Bhatta Chowk. “The van was carrying army personnel on census duty. The SHO then saw two persons on a motorcycle stopping one of whom disembarked while the other sped away. The attacker who alighted from the motorcycle blasted himself near the army personnel resulting in six deaths and 18 injuries. </s> Lahore attack: Taliban suicide bomber kills at least 25 people in Pakistan, many of them police

A suicide bomber has killed at least 25 people, many of them police, in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, officials say — in an attack which shattered a period of relative calm in Pakistan's second-largest city.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack which wrought carnage near the Lahore Technology Park in the centre of the city.

Police deployed to clear street vendors from the area had been targeted, an official said.

Rescue workers shifted the injured to hospital and police officers cordoned off the bomb site as army troops also arrived at the scene.

"The death toll we have now is 25 dead and 52 are wounded," Jam Sajjad Hussain, spokesman for the Rescue 1122 service, said.

An injured man sitting on the roadside was shown crying in pain on television amidst cars and motorcycles mangled by the blast.

The bombing was claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, in a message sent to the media by spokesman Muhammad Khurassani.

The Pakistani Taliban are loosely allied with Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents, but focus their attacks on the Pakistani Government.

Bomb blasts by militants are common in Pakistan, especially in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, but attacks in Lahore have become less frequent in recent years.

Haider Ashraf, deputy inspector general of Punjab police, said the blast was a suicide attack and "police were the target".

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said the majority of those killed and wounded were police and warned the death toll could rise.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the blast in a statement and directed medical efforts for those injured.

In early April, a suicide attack on an army census team that killed at least six people and wounded 18 in Lahore was also claimed by the Pakistani Taliban.

After a series of attacks in February, including two in Lahore that killed over 20 people, Pakistan's powerful military began a nationwide crackdown on militants.
A suicide bomber kills at least six people and wounds 18 near a Pakistan Army vehicle taking part in the census in the city of Lahore.