Pakistan: 80 dead as gunmen attack Ahmedi places of worship

"They came into the worship place from the back and started firing. They were armed with hand grenades and suicide vests and other weapons." [Rana Ayaz, a senior local police officer] 

Photo: Aaj.TV

Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff |
Source & Credit: Aaj.TV | AFP
By AFP News | May 28, 2010

LAHORE : Gunmen wearing suicide vests stormed two Ahmedi place of worship, bringing carnage to Friday prayers and killing around 80 people, officials said.

Squads of militants burst into prayer halls firing guns, throwing grenades and taking hostages in the deadliest attack in Lahore, which has been increasingly hit by militants.

"Terrorists have attacked worship place. They are firing and using grenades. They have taken people inside the worship place hostage," district civil defence official Muzhar Ahmed told AFP from the scene in Garhi Shahu.


The attacks sparked more than two hours of gun battles with police and commandos, as bursts of heavy gunfire rocked the neighbourhoods and rescue services raced through the streets to tend to the victims.

"The prayer leader was delivering a sermon inside the hall when I suddenly heard distant gunshots," Bilal Ahmed, a worshipper told AFP after fleeing with his life from the worship place in Model Town.

As the gun battles ended in both locations, officials spoke of scenes of carnage particularly in Garhi Shahu where dozens of bodies were found.

"Around 80 people have been killed," Sajjad Bhutta, the top city administrative official in Lahore, told reporters.

Doctor Rizwan Nasir, head of the rescue services in Lahore, said 108 people were wounded as police continued to search for any remaining attackers.

Munnawar Shahid, a spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Party told AFP that his party chief Munir Ahmed Sheikh was among the dead.

The precise number of attackers at Garhi Shahu was not immediately clear, but police said there were at least three in Model Town.

"They came into the worship place from the back and started firing. They were armed with hand grenades and suicide vests and other weapons," Rana Ayaz, a senior local police official, told AFP.

Officials said one of the attackers blew himself up and two were arrested one of them a teenager. The other was seriously wounded.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2010

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