35 killed, 175 hurt in triple suicide blasts at Data Darbar: DCO

LAHORE: Three suicide bombers have killed 35 devotees and wounded another 175 at Data Darbar Shrine here late Thursday night, DCO Lahore Sajjad Bhutta and Commissioner Khushro Pervez told media.

25 among injured devotees are said to be critical in condition, hospital sources said adding that emergency has been put in place in all city hospitals.

Two attackers blew themselves up inside the shrine while the third one outside it, he added.

Relief and rescue activities are underway at the blasts site.

A hand grenade has been found near Wazoo Khana of Shrine while police has cordoned off the area.

All the injured, some of them in critical condition, have been shifted to nearby hospitals where emergency has been clamped.

Data Darbar has five doors out of which four were closed. The only door kept open had a body scanner installed with it and it is still unknown how the bombers made their way inside the shrine.

Following the triple suicide blasts, furious mob also staged protest and pelted security forces with stones, which police took under control by resorting to baton charge and firing teargas.

Police also claimed recovery of two heads and bodies of alleged suicide bombers, adding that three 10 kg suicide jackets were used to carry out suicide blasts.

The situation is under control, police sources confirmed to media.

Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, strongly deploring the triple suicide bombing at Data Darbar, has issued directives to law enforcement agencies to probe into heinous crime for submission of a report.

Elderly men, women and young children were also among killed and injured, witnesses and rescue workers told media.

NKorea Wants Summit With SKorea

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has sent word that he wants to hold a summit with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in the latest sign of easing tensions between the divided nations, news reports said Monday.

Kim’s envoy proposed the summit during a rare meeting Sunday, and Lee told the envoy that he would be open to a summit if it is discuss North Korea’s nuclear program, the South’s mass-circulation Chosun Ilbo daily reported, citing an unidentified government official.

Another leading newspaper, the JoongAng Ilbo, carried a similar report.

However, the South’s presidential Blue House denied the reports, saying that Lee and the North’s envoy had general discussions on improving relations between the two sides, but that nothing related to a summit was mentioned.

North Korea has significantly softened its stance toward the South in recent weeks, freeing a South Korean worker held there for more than four months, agreeing to lift restrictions on border crossings and pledging to resume suspended joint projects and the reunion of families separated during the Korean War.

The North’s envoy, senior ruling Workers’ Party official Kim Ki Nam, visited Seoul from Friday until Sunday, leading a four-member delegation to pay Pyongyang’s official respect for late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung. The team also included Pyongyang’s spy chief, Kim Yang Gon.

They were the first North Korean officials to visit the South since the conservative Lee took office early last year with a pledge to get tough with the communist neighbor and put a stop to unconditional aid. Lee’s hard-line stance angered the North, prompting it to suspend reconciliation talks and major joint projects.

Lee told the North’s delegation that he is ready to help the impoverished neighbor rebuild its economy and asked his intentions be relayed to Kim Jong Il, the Chosun Ilbo said. Lee also told the delegation that the South does not want the North to collapse, the paper said.

Despite easing tensions, North Korea is still holding four South Korean fishermen seized late last month after their boat strayed into North Korean waters off the peninsula’s east coast.

The North told the South on Monday that the crew were still under investigation, Seoul’s Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said. The spokesman also said Pyongyang has not yet responded to Seoul’s offer to hold Red Cross talks this week to organize reunions of separated families.

The two Koreas are technically in a state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

The sides had their first-ever summit in 2000 between then President Kim Dae-jung and the North’s Kim Jong Il. The North’s leader held a second summit with the South in 2007 with late South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun.

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NKorea Wants Summit With SKorea was first posted on August 24, 2009 at 11:50 am.

Big Terror Plan Foiled In Sargodha, Six Suicide Bomber Captured

SARGODHA: Sargodha police have foiled a big terror plot and arrested six alleged suicide bombers.

DPO Usman Anwar while talking to Geo News revealed that arrested persons belonged to Tahreek-e-Taliban Punjab and they were planning to target religious and other key places.

He said large number of suicide jackets and weapons also recovered from their possession. The chief of Tahreek-e-Taliban Punjab also included among the detainees, he added.

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Big Terror Plan Foiled In Sargodha, Six Suicide Bomber Captured was first posted on August 24, 2009 at 3:05 pm.