Lahore blast: 6 dead, 15 injured in an explosion in Pakistan

TIL Desk/World/Islamabad-At least six people were killed and 15 injured after a bomb ripped through a building in an upscale shopping area of Pakistan’s Lahore Thursday, officials said, the latest in a surge in Islamist violence.”It was a bomb attack,” Nayab Haider, a spokesman for the provincial Punjab police said. Rescue services spokeswoman Deeba Shehnaz provided the casualty toll.

According to some sources, the death toll had climbed to 8. A Pakistani provincial minister says an explosion has killed six people in the eastern city of Lahore. Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said it is not yet clear what caused explosion, which took place at an upscale Lahore restaurant. He said the explosion also wounded at least 15 people.

The violence is the latest in a string of suicide bombings and other attacks over the past two weeks that have killed over 125 people. The attacks have been claimed by an array of militant groups, including the Islamic State group and a splinter Taliban faction, and have prompted a countrywide crackdown on militants. In just one bombing, which was claimed by IS and which targeted a revered Sufi shrine packed with Shiite worshippers, at least 90 people were killed.