Punjab police close to arresting culprits behind Lahore blast, says Rashid

Punjab police has made headway in the Lahore bomb blast and is close to arresting the culprits involved in the incident, said Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed on Thursday.

His statement comes a day after a bomb blast rocked Lahore's Johar Town, killing 3 people, including a child, and injuring 24 on Wednesday morning.

In a video message on Twitter, Rasheed said Punjab Police will soon nab the culprits and "give good news to the nation".

The interior minister said enemies of Pakistan could not see economic and political stability in the country and are resorting to terrorism to destabilise it.

He said that elements that want to spread chaos in the country would fail as Pakistan will never come under pressure.

Rasheed mentioned that 86 percent of fencing work on the Afghanistan border and 46 percent work on the border with Iran has been completed. He said that fencing of the Afghan border would be completed within the next one-and-a-half month while fencing of the Iran border will be completed this year.

On June 23, at least three people were killed while 24 suffered injuries when a planted device exploded near the residence of Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed in Johar Town. The blast left a four-foot-deep and eight-foot-wide crater on the road and damaged several houses, shops, and vehicles nearby.

At least 3 killed, 21 injured in Lahore bomb blast

The three victims who lost their lives in the explosion were identified as six-year-old Abdul Haq, his father Abdul Malik, 50, and a young passerby. Jinnah Hospital’s Medical Superintendent Dr Yahya Sultan told reporters that seven of those admitted to the hospital were in critical condition with "ball bearing and blast injuries"

Soon after the explosion, the police launched a hunt for the suspects and gathered evidence, and completed geo-fencing of the crime site.

Reports stated a First Investigation Report (FIR) of the Lahore blast has been registered by the Counter Terrorism Department on the complaint of SHO City Police Station Abid Baig. The FIR has been filed under the charges of murder, attempt to murder, terrorism, and the explosives act, the police stated.

12 injured in Hub bomb blast

Three unidentified men have been nominated in the FIR. Reportedly, the law enforcement agency personnel have rounded up some suspects for interrogation.

The investigators revealed that 15 kilograms of explosives had been planted in a car that was stolen from Gujranwala and parked near the residence of Saeed. Many other houses and shops falling within a 100 square feet radius of the blast site were damaged, they stated.

Earlier, addressing the media on Wednesday, Inspector General of Police Punjab, Inam Ghani stated that the CTD is investigating the incident.

He added several threat alerts were received, and clearly, external elements want to harm Pakistan.

Without naming Saeed, Ghani said: “As far as the question of residence of a high-value target is concerned, a police picket (post) was established there." He maintained that police were guarding the house at the time of the attack, resulting in injuries to some officials.

"We should appreciate the police as anti-state elements failed to reach the target. They want to demoralise the police but they should know that our morale is high," he stated.

Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar also took notice of the incident and sought a report from the authorities.