By IANS,
Lahore : Terrorists launched simultaneous attacks on three security establishments in this Pakistani city Thursday, killing at least seven people.
Militants dressed in uniform stormed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the Manawan police training school, close to the India-Pakistan border, and the training centre of the Elite Force.
There was heavy exchange of fire in all three buildings that came under siege. Loud blasts and gunshots could be heard, eyewitnesses said. Helicopters hovered above to keep a watch on the terror drama unfolding across the city.
Commissioner of Police, Lahore, Khusro Pervez, told Dawn News that it was a “multi-directional attack”.
He said seven people were killed in the attack on the FIA building and three people injured. These included two terrorists – a third was taken into custody, media reports said.
“The FIA building has been cleared and search operations are being carried out in the surrounding areas,” Pervez said, adding that a suicide jacket has been recovered.
The Lahore office of the FIA, Pakistan’s federal law enforcement agency, is located close to a school.
At the Manawan police training school on the outskirts of the capital, the militants lobbed grenades while storming inside the complex. According to Pervez, security forces were still searching for the terrorists.
At the Elite Force headquarters at Bediyan Road, 10 terrorists, including three women, barged into the premises lobbing grenades and firing indiscriminately.
Police said the exchange of fire was still on and the complex had been encircled.
This is the latest in a string of terror attacks to hit Pakistan in the last 10 days.
On Saturday, terrorists had laid siege to the Pakistani army’s headquarters in Rawalpindi. The two-day standoff ended with 19 people being killed.
The day before, on Friday, a suicide bomber detonated a car stuffed with explosives in a busy market of Peshawar, killing 53 people and injuring over 100.
On Oct 5, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the UN World Food Programme office in Islamabad, killing five people.