Official says at least 10 people killed, 25 wounded in blast in central Pakistan

Official: Explosion kills 10 in central Pakistan

ISLAMABAD — A suspected car bomb ripped through a market near the home of a politician in central Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least 10 people and wounding 25 including relatives of the lawmaker.

The blast in the Punjab province town of Dera Ghazi Khan was the latest in a series of attacks that have killed more than 500 people in Pakistan since October. The bloodshed has been blamed on militants avenging an army offensive against the Taliban in the northwest.

The initial investigation suggests Tuesday’s blast was “a powerful car bomb,” local police chief Athar Mubarak said.

The blast left a massive crater and was heard from a half-a-mile (kilometer) away, local commissioner Hasan Iqbal said. The home of Zulfikhar Khosa, senior adviser to the chief minister of Punjab province, was badly damaged, as were several shops in the market.

Punjab province law minister Rana Sanaullah put the death toll at 10, and said at least 25 others were wounded. Many people were trapped under the rubble, and TV footage from the scene showed rescue workers scrambling around a smoke-filled pile of debris and metal.

Zulfiqar Khosa’s son, Dost Mohammad Khosa, said two of his cousins were among the wounded.

“It was a direct attack on us,” he said, declining to speculate who was behind it. His father was in Islamabad at the time of the blast, he said. Dost Mohammad Khosa was in the eastern city of Lahore.

Raza Khan, a local resident at the scene, said people were panicking.

“The whole market has collapsed,” he told The Associated Press by phone. “There is smoke and people running here and there.”

Islamist militants have staged several attacks in Punjab to illustrate their reach across the country, far beyond the northwest tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.

Several hard-line religious schools operate in Dera Ghazi Khan area. The town also has experienced sectarian attacks pitting Sunni and Shiite Muslims against each other.