At least two people reported to have been killed and 26 injured in the incident.
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Islamabad, Pakistan – At least two people have been killed and dozens more wounded after an explosion in a busy shopping district in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, police say.
The explosion took place in the Lohari Gate area, a densely packed neighbourhood consisting of small shops packed into narrow criss-crossing streets, on Thursday afternoon, police spokesperson Nayab Haider told Al Jazeera.
“The deaths of two people are confirmed,” he said, adding that four of the wounded were in critical condition.
Hospital officials at Lahore’s Mayo hospital, where the wounded were being treated, confirmed the death toll and said at least 26 people had been wounded in the blast.
Security officials inspect the scene of the bomb blast in Lahore [Rahat Dar/EPA]Television footage showed police officials cordoning off blast site, with forensic teams gathering evidence.
“Initially it seems that this is a planted [bomb] device that has caused this explosion,” senior police official Abid Khan told reporters at the scene.
Khan said investigations were ongoing to determine the nature of the blast and the kind of explosive used.
Rescue official Farooq Ahmed told Al Jazeera that all of the wounded had been shifted from the scene to nearby hospitals.
