A suicide bomb blast claimed by the Taliban ripped through a police checkpoint on the outskirts of Lahore on Wednesday, killing seven people and wounding 18, officials said.
Jam Sajjad Hussain, spokesman of a state-run rescue service, told Reuters that his officials had taken seven dead bodies to hospitals. “Our rescuers are at work,” he said. “They have shifted so far seven bodies.”
Deputy Inspector General of police Haider Ashraf said the bomb exploded when the police were changing guards at the checkpoint just outside an annual religious congregation in Raiwind, where nearly 80,000 people were in attendance.
“A suicide bomber riding a motorcycle attacked the police,” Mr. Ashraf said. He said four of the dead were from police.
A Pakistani Taliban spokesman Mohammad Khurasani claimed responsibility for the suicide attack.
Bounty on Fazlullah
Meanwhile, Washington on Thursday offered a $5 million bounty for the Pakistani Taliban militant leader, Mulllah Fazlullah, a day after a suspected U.S. drone strike on a training camp in a remote part of Afghanistan killed his son and more than 20 other militants preparing to launch suicide attacks in Pakistan.
The U.S. cooperation comes amid worsening U.S.-Pakistan relations, and coincides with a visit to Washington by Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary for talks expected to focus on boosting counterterrorism cooperation and the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan.
