Cop among two killed in Lahore blast

LAHORE: Two persons including a sub-inspector were killed while ten others received injuries in a rickshaw blast near Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore Friday.
Law enforcement agencies and Lahore Police commanders claimed that it was a transformer blast. They denied commenting on the nature of injuries the victims had received. The second one-day match between Zimbabwean Cricket Team and Pakistani Cricket team was underway at the time of incident. The condition of four injured persons was stated to be critical.
The deceased policeman has been identified as Abdul Majeed, a resident of Walton. He was posted at Faisal Town police station. Police and Rescuers responded soon after the incident, cordoned off the area and shifted the victims to different hospitals.
Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has taken notice of news of transformer blast at Ferozepur Road and sought a report from IG Punjab. The Chief Minister directed that incident should be probed from every aspect and best treatment facilities be provided to the injured officials.
There were also reports that the blast occurred after a suicide bomber blew himself up. According to these reports a suicide bomber reached the scene on a rickshaw. As the rickshaw driver slowed down the vehicle on bomber’s instructions, the terrorist hurled a cracker on policemen standing there and later exploded himself with a big bang.
The rickshaw driver has been identified as Saleem Khan. His rickshaw was also damaged in the blast. Rangers officials took him into custody and shifted him to unknown location.The government officials, however, vehemently denied these reports insisting that the blast was occurred because of a fault in a transformer. Rescue 1122, Edhi and other emergency services responded to the scene within no time and shifted victims to different hospitals.