CCTV footage of Lahore attack released
LAHORE: The Close Circuit Television (CCTV) footage of Monday’s suicide attack on FIA building has been released to the media, ARY NEWS reported.
The CCTV footage shows two suspects alighting from an explosive-laden double-cabin vehicle minutes before the deadly attack. The driver of the vehicle later rammed it into the FIA and the Special Investigative Agency buildings in Model Town, leaving 13 people dead and injuring more than 70.
Banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility of the attack.
“We claim responsibility for the Lahore blast. We will continue such attacks in future,” TTP spokesman Azam Tariq told two AFP reporters in telephone calls from an undisclosed location.
“The attack was to avenge (US) drone attacks and (Pakistani) military operations in the tribal areas. We will carry on such attacks as long as drone strikes and operations continue.”
The blast comes amid reports of crackdown on Afghan Taliban and al-Qaida operatives. Among the militants said to have been arrested is the Afghan Taliban’s No. 2 commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. In recent days, an American member of al-Qaida has been captured in Karachi.
TV footage showed a huge crater in the ground where the blast originated. It appeared the suicide bomber rammed a car packed with as much as 1,300 pounds (600 kilograms) of explosives into the building’s perimeter wall, officials said.
“This place was used to interrogate important suspects, but presently there was no such suspect, but more than 40 staff were manning the place,” Lahore police chief Pervez Rathore said.
Police official Chaudhry Shafiq said 13 people had died. Of the 70 people wounded, several were in critical condition.
Hospital official Jawed Akram said the dead included at least one woman and a young girl, apparently part of a group heading to a school. Several women were among the wounded.
”People are coming with multiple wounds, many with head injuries and broken limbs,” Akram said.
The investigators have found head of the suicide attacker, which has been shifted to Jinnah Hospital.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik painted the attack as sign of desperation from militants whose ”backs have been broken” by the army. ”They are taking guerrilla actions but gradually it is decreasing and they are being arrested and in the coming days they will have no chance,” Malik said.
Much of the police building collapsed, leaving piles of bricks and metal, TV footage showed. Other nearby homes and other buildings, including a mosque, also were damaged.
Source Ary News
