Pakistan bomb kills four in Lahore district

At least four people were killed and
dozens injured when a bomb went off
in a busy food street in Pakistan's
eastern city of Lahore, officials say.
Local media said the explosion
happened as people sat eating at
restaurants in the Anarkali area on
Saturday night.
At least 30 people were believed to
have been wounded, with some in a
critical condition. Children were
reportedly among the casualties.
There was no immediate claim of
responsibility.
The attack was the first of its kind for
three years in Lahore, the capital of
Pakistan's Punjab province and home
city of newly elected Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif.
However, there has been a series of
attacks around the country since Mr
Sharif was sworn in last month –
blamed on Islamist groups including
the Pakistan Taliban – which have left
more than 150 people dead.
The bomb was placed in an outdoor
eating area in the old part of Lahore
and detonated at a particularly busy
part of the evening.
Pictures taken shortly after the
explosion show broken chairs and
tables lying on the ground.
Eyewitnesses reported seeing
windowpanes smashed and furniture
from the food stalls destroyed.
"The blast site is just few metres away
and the blast was so loud that I was
stunned for a while," shopkeeper
Naseed Ahmed told Reuters.
"There was chaos everywhere."
Local resident Mohammad Anwer said
more should be done to protect
people.
"This happened on the weekend when
there is huge crowd gathered here," he
told Reuters news agency.
"The government should do something
about these kinds of incidents. People
feel very insecure."
Police official Zulfiqar Hameed said the
bomb was connected to a deep freezer
in one of the restaurants, according to
the news agency.
Mr Sharif has called on the leaders of
all major political parties to meet on
Friday to discuss initial ideas for a new
security strategy to tackle the growing
threat posed by militants.
But the BBC's Richard Galpin in the
capital Islamabad says it could be
months before any plan comes into
effect.