3 bomb blasts at Shiite procession in Pakistan kill at least 28, injure 200

Three bomb blasts tore through a Shiite Muslim procession Wednesday in Pakistan’s second-largest city, Lahore, killing at least 28 people and wounding 200 others, authorities said.

The attacks occurred as thousands of Shiites marched through Lahore’s streets in a traditional mourning procession for Imam Ali, one of Shiite Islam’s most revered figures. No one claimed responsibility for the blasts, but Sunni Muslim militant groups have frequently targeted Pakistan’s Shiite minority.

Lahore’s top administrative official, Khusro Pervez, said the attacks were well planned and timed, carried out when Pakistani authorities were preoccupied with massive floods that ravaged large sections of the country this summer.

The attacks began just after iftar, the early evening period when Muslims break their daily fast during the holy month of Ramadan. The first explosion was a low-intensity blast that struck marchers as they neared the procession’s endpoint. A television camera showed frantic marchers crawling from the site amid a cloud of black smoke.

Minutes later, two explosions that authorities said were suicide bombings occurred at a gate about 300 yards from the first blast. Those explosions resulted in most of the deaths and injuries.

Akhtar Ali, an official with the Edhi rescue service, said that the death toll stood at 28 as of late Wednesday, but that several of the injured were in critical condition.

After the blasts, police struggled to maintain order as angry Shiites set fire to a police station and three police cars. Television video also showed stick-wielding marchers clubbing fleeing police officers.

Lahore is the capital of Punjab, Pakistan’s wealthiest and most populous province, which is rife with violent sectarian groups that prey on religious minorities, including Shiites, Christians and members of the Ahmadi sect. Those groups have been banned by the government for years, but their organizations historically have been permitted to operate freely throughout Punjab province.

alex.rodriguez@latimes.com

Special correspondent Nasir Khan contributed to this report.