Suicide Attack Kills 9 in Pakistan

The attack took place in the suburb of Raiwind in Lahore, the main town of central Punjab province, near a mosque hosting a religious congregation of some 60,000 people.

“At least nine people, which included five police and four civilians, have been killed... Circumstances show it was a suicide attack,” Haider Ashraf, a senior police official in Lahore, told reporters.

The bombing was claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant group in a statement sent to AFP, in which the extremists threatened more attacks on police in retaliation for killing their “associates” in Punjab.

The US State Department earlier this month offered a $5 million reward for help locating the leader of the TTP, which has been linked to bloody attacks in Pakistan and the 2010 attempted Times Square car bombing in New York.