Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed “grief and sorrow” and condemned the blast. He ordered authorities to provide best medical assistance to the injured.
Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif expressed the government’s resolve to fight terrorism in the country. In a statement, he said the terrorists cannot dent the resolve of the nation to fight terrorism, Radio Pakistan reported.
The government has also announced Rs500,000 to the kin of those killed and Rs75,000 for the kin of those injured.
Imdad Husain, an eyewitness, told reporters that he was returning after watching the parade ceremony when he heard a bang near the Wagah border market.
“I fell unconscious. When I gained consciousness there had been complete darkness. Many injured and I cried for help lying on the road. After 15 minutes some rescue men came towards me and shifted me to the Ghurki Hospital, a border area health facility,” he said.
Samina Bibi was also returning along with her husband and two young children when the blast took place. On the bed of the Ghurki Hospital she was crying and asking the doctors about her husband and children. “The doctors were comforting her saying they are alright,” Imdad said.
There were two families who lost eight and five of their members respectively in the attack.
Emergency has been declared at all hospitals in Lahore.
“The death toll may rise as the condition of some seven or so patients is still critical. We are trying our best to safe these patients including a four-year-old girl,” said senior doctor at Ghurki hospital Khurram Shahzad.
Punjab Emergency Services Rescue 1122 spokesman Jam Sajjad told PTI that he feared rise in the death toll.
“We have shifted about 200 injured in different hospitals of Lahore,” he said. He said the condition of over a dozen is critical.
There were conflicting claims of responsibility for the attack, reflecting the divison within the umbrella group TTP.
Abdullah Bahar, a spokesman for a TTP faction loyal to its dead chief Hakimullah Mehsud, said they carried it out to avenge Mehsud’s killing in a US drone strike last year.
Pakistan has been hit by a homegrown Taliban insurgency that has left thousands of people dead in the past decade.
In June, the army began an operation against militant hideouts in the North Waziristan tribal region, after a bloody attack on Karachi airport ended fledgling peace talks between the government and the Pakistani Taliban.
The military says over 1,100 militants and 100 soldiers have been killed since the start of Operation Zarb-e-Azb while more than 100 militants have surrendered.
–PTI