Asia & Pacic

Suicide bombing
at Pakistan
protest kills at
least 13

By Pamela Constable and Shaiq Hussain February 13

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan A suicide bomber killed at least 13 people and injured scores Monday in the eastern city
of Lahore, detonating a powerful blast on a crowded boulevard outside the provincial legislature, where hundreds
of pharmacists and drug company officials were holding a peaceful protest.

Two senior police officials and four other police officers were among those killed when the bomb exploded at the
edge of the rally, officials said. Television footage showed flames rising and people fleeing in panic, while
ambulances, police vehicles and army trucks rushed to the area.

Police said that in addition to the dead, 80 people were injured.

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Thank God I am alive, Zahid Sherwani, a reporter for Pakistans Geo News TV channel, said in a broadcast from
the scene, where he and other journalists had gone to cover the sit-in rally. I was very, very close.

Officials said they had been warned by the federal counterterrorism agency last Tuesday that a suicide attack might
occur in Lahore, prompting extra precautions. The protest, over new amendments to a drug-sales law and a
shortage of licensed pharmacists, was held in an area often used for demonstrations, just outside the Punjab
provincial assembly gates, and it did not appear to be specifically targeted.

The spot where the blast took place is always under threat, Rana Sanaullah, the law minister for Punjab province,
told reporters. He said that elaborate security arrangements had been put in place but that the rally gave the
opportunity to terrorists to strike.

Last week a group headed by radical Islamist cleric Hafiz Mohammad Saeed held a large antigovernment protest
on the same boulevard in Lahore, as well as rallies in other cities, after authorities placed Saeed under house
arrest. Other Islamist groups have denounced the government for the crackdown and called for further protests.

Saeed was accused of masterminding a terrorist siege in 2008 in Mumbai that killed 166 people. He has been
detained several times since then but has never been tried or convicted. On Monday, a spokesman for his group
condemned the Lahore attack and called its perpetrators terrorists and enemies of Islam and Pakistan.

However, a different Islamist group emailed a statement to media outlets, praising the bombing and indirectly
claiming it. The message from Jamaat-ul-Ahrar named both the two slain senior police officials and the attacker,
whom it called a martyr and our beloved brother.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar broke away from the Pakistani Taliban in 2014 and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. In its
statement Monday, it called the Lahore attack just the start of a coming operation and added, We warn all
Pakistani apostate departments that they are our targets, a reference to government agencies.

The outlawed group claimed a bombing near a church at a Lahore park on Easter last March that killed 75 people,
and another in the southwestern city of Quetta in August that killed 70; the latter blast was also claimed by the
Islamic State.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed both sorrow and defiance in a statement Monday, praising the
dead police officers and vowing to continue the fight against terrorism, which has killed thousands across Pakistan
in the past decade.

Lahore is at once the heart of Sharifs provincial political base and the home of several radical and sectarian
Islamist parties. Provincial political leaders have been accused of appeasing some religious groups while trying to
control others.

Terrorism isnt a novelty for us. Our story has been one of constant struggle against its grasp, and a fight for the
soul of Pakistan, Sharif said. We have fought this fight against the terrorists among us and will continue to fight
it until we liberate our people of this cancer.
Sharifs government and its predecessors have sought to curb Islamic militancy with mixed success. The army has
made strides against domestic jihadist groups, but some remain popular among the Muslim public, while critics
including India and the United States say Pakistan continues to harbor violent militants who target neighboring
countries.

Haq Nawaz Khan in Peshawar contributed to this report.

Pamela Constable is The Posts bureau chief in Afghanistan and Pakistan. She
previously served as a South Asia bureau chief and most recently covered
immigration in the Washington area for several years. ! Follow @pamconstable1

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