Twin suicide attacks have targeted the Pakistani military, killing 45 people in the second attack to hit security forces in the country’s cultural capital Lahore this week.
Police said the bombers walked up to Pakistani army vehicles in the densely populated R A Bazaar area, blowing themselves up as people sat down to eat before the main Muslim weekly prayers were to begin.
The army cordoned off the tree-lined street where there were shops and a mosque, preventing access to journalists as ambulances raced through the city of 8 million to ferry the dead and wounded to hospitals.
The blasts underscored rising volatility in Lahore, where security forces have been a common target in attacks blamed on Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants opposed to Pakistan’s alliance with the United States.
