Suicide car bomber strikes Pakistani counter-terrorism offices

Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan, and Lahore, Pakistan -- A suicide car bombing at a building in Lahore that houses terrorism investigators killed at least 13 people and wounded 80 others Monday, the first terrorist strike this year to hit a major city in Pakistan’s Punjab heartland.

The blast targeted a special investigative unit that interrogates key terrorism suspects. The building collapsed from the force of the blast, and rescuers spent the morning searching for survivors in the rubble.

Lahore’s administrative chief, Khusro Pervez, said the bomber crashed through a security gate before ramming a perimeter wall and detonating his explosives. More than 1,100 pounds of explosives were used in the attack, police said.

Rana Sanaullah, law minister for Punjab province, called the attack “a sad and condemnable incident.”

“These terrorists are trying to destabilize the country,” Sanaullah said. “The government will not let them succeed with their agenda.”

Until Monday, Pakistan had been experiencing a relative lull in violence, particularly in major cities such as Lahore that had been hit hard by suicide bombings last year. A wave of bombings and ambushes in 2009 that killed more than 600 people coincided with large-scale military offensives carried out by Pakistani troops against Taliban militants in South Waziristan and other tribal districts along the Afghan border.

Pakistani security forces have regained control over several Taliban strongholds in the tribal areas, but militants maintain cells throughout the country and retain the capacity to unleash assaults on cities and towns.

No organization claimed responsibility for the Lahore blast, but in the past the Pakistani Taliban or militant groups allied with it have been behind such strikes. Monday’s bombing was the first such attack in Lahore since December, when two near-simultaneous bombings tore through a crowded market, killing at least 48.

Lahore Police Chief Pervez Rathore said as many as 40 counter-terrorism officials were inside the building when the blast occurred. The explosion carved out a crater about 12 feet deep and 15 feet wide. As many as 15 other buildings in the area were damaged.

Nassemur Rehman, who lives less than a mile from the site, said the explosion shook his house.

“I saw smoke rising from the area,” Rehman said. “When I rushed there, I found this huge devastation.”

Tariq Usman, a 27-year-old student at a nearby religious school, said he and classmates were preparing for a morning lecture when the blast sent glass flying into the room and brought the ceiling down. A glass shard gashed his head.

“It was the most frightening sound I’ve ever heard,” Usman said. “Panic broke out as everyone ran out of the school to find a safe place. Outside, I saw people bleeding, crying and running in different directions.”

alex.rodriguez@ latimes.com

Sahi is a special correspondent.