22 killed, 70 hurt in Pakistan Bombing

A suicide bomber laden with an estimated 30lbs of explosives ran up to a police barricade in eastern Pakistan on Thursday morning and blew himself up, killing 20 officers and wounding at least 70 people.

[q
url="http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1702156,00.html"]It
was only a matter of time. A suicide bomber struck in the Pakistani
city of Lahore today, ending a two-week lull since the spate of
spontaneous violence that followed the December 27 assassination of
former prime minister and parliamentary candidate Benazir Bhutto. At
least 23 riot police were killed and another 58 police and passers-by
were injured when a man detonated his vest packed with ball bearings
outside Lahore's High Court, according to Police Superintendent Aftab
Cheema. Police have recovered the suicide bomber's head, which was
thrown some 100 meters across a busy commercial square by the force of
the blast.[/q]
[q
url="http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0111/p07s02-wosc.html"]Shattering
two weeks of tenuous calm following Benazir Bhutto's assassination last
month, a suicide bomber struck Thursday in the city of Lahore, the
capital of Pakistan's heartland. The spread of violence to yet another
city is likely to raise fresh doubts that security in Pakistan is
conducive to elections – already delayed until Feb. 18 – that will
bolster the country's political process.[/q][q
url="http://www.buzzle.com/articles/171492.html"]A suicide bomber
killed at least 22 people and wounded another 60 when he hurled himself
at policemen standing outside the high court in the eastern Pakistani
city of Lahore this morning.

 
The attack comes at a time of growing crisis in Pakistan,
five weeks before contentious general elections and amid soaring flour
prices.

 
Security forces were already on high alert for the start
tomorrow of Muhurram, a major Shia religious festival that has
traditionally seen sectarian violence.

 
The suicide bombing was the largest against civilians since
the December 27 assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto,
which killed another 20 people and plunged the country deep into
political chaos.

 
The interior ministry declared a heightened national security
alert in response to today's attack, which took place as lawyers were
meeting inside the high court precinct in preparation for their weekly
anti-government demonstration.

 
Several senior judges and lawyers' leaders have been under
arrest since early November, and previous protests by lawyers have seen
violent street clashes.

 
Police officials said that just before midday a man leaped
off a motorcycle, rushed towards a line of police outside the court,
and blew himself up. [/q]