FIR registered in Lahore blast case as death toll rises to four

LAHORE: A first investigation report (FIR) was registered on Wednesday by the Counter-Terrorism Department on the complaint of SHO City Police Station Abid Baig against those involved in the bomb blast that occurred in Lahore’s Johar Town area, ARY News reported.

The FIR has been filed under the charges of murder, attempt to murder, terrorism and the explosives act, according to officials.

Three unknown men were mentioned in the case.

At least four people, including a six-year-old boy, were killed while 23 others got injured in a blast outside a house in Lahore’s Johar Town area on Wednesday.

Speaking to the media at the site of the blast, Punjab IG Inam Ghani confirmed that it was a bomb blast. “A bomb planted in a car went off. The vehicle cannot reach its target due to police barriers,” he said. “The police were the target of the bomb blast.”

The provincial police chief said ball-bearings driven by the blast hit the injured, adding the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) had previously traced such cases and will also investigate this incident thoroughly.

Read: Lahore bomb blast: Security agencies start tracing suspects through geofencing

Meanwhile, the security agencies have arrested the owner of the vehicle used in Lahore’s Johar Town bomb blast, citing sources.

Sources closer to Excise Department said that the real owner of the vehicle was a resident of Hafizabad who was arrested by the security officials for investigation, whereas, the institutions confiscated a broken part of the vehicle’s engine.

It was learnt that it was a stolen vehicle was a 2010 Toyota Corolla that was used to carry out a bomb explosion in Lahore’s Johar Town. The car was being driven on an open letter after being sold by the Hafizabad resident two years ago, sources added.

Earlier, ARY News acquired the CCTV footage of a suspicious vehicle that was possibly used in Lahore’s Johar Town blast.

The CCTV footage shows a suspicious man wearing blue shalwar kameez is parking the black car in Lahore’s Johar Town, the area where the blast took place on Wednesday morning.

In the footage available with ARY News it can be seen that a suspicious man coming out of the black car that supposedly exploded 30 minutes later the man left the scene.