Pakistan Suicide Bomb Blast Leaves Many Dead At Lahore Park

27 March 2016 International

At least 50 people have been killed and over 100 others injured in a suicide blast outside a public park in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore, health ministry officials said.

"The blast was massive and has caused a lot of damage and fatalities," Jam Sajjad Hussain, spokesman for the emergency service "Rescue 112" told Al Jazeera on Sunday.

Most of the injured are women and children, Hussain confirmed.

"I was a few blocks away from the blast, many people were running and screaming like the world has collapsed," Mian Ashraf told Al Jazeera. 

"Until when will we see our loved ones getting killed in such attacks?"

Police also confirmed that it was a suicide attack, adding that the death toll might go up.

"We cannot rule out that this was a suicide attack but things will be clear soon," Haider Ashraf DIG Operations Lahore said.

In 2014, Pakistan launched an offensive against Taliban and affiliated fighters in North Waziristan, seeking to deprive them of safe havens from which to launch attacks in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Punjab has traditionally been more peaceful than other parts of Pakistan. 

Last year, a bomb killed a popular Pakistani provincial minister and at least eight others when it destroyed the minister's home in Punjab.

Earlier in March, a bomb planted on a bus carrying government officials exploded in northern Pakistan, killing at least 15 people. 

A suicide bomber killed 13 people on March 8 after blowing himself up outside a court in Charsadda, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, about 30km from Peshawar.

: 1523

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