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Pakistan”s Lahore on alert after blasts kill five | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) -Two bomb blasts within hours of each other on Thursday in Pakistan”s eastern city of Lahore killed at least five people and wounded 26, police said.

Security forces in the city were put on high alert after the attacks and police patrols in busy neighborhoods and shopping malls increased.

&#34The two blasts look quite similar to each other, and we fear that there may be more blasts,&#34 Senior Superintendent of Police Chaudhry Shafqaat Ahmad said.

In the first incident, a street vendor was killed and eight other people standing at a bus stop were wounded when a bomb fitted to a bicycle exploded near the Minar-e-Pakistan (Tower of Pakistan) monument in the city, police said.

Hours later, another blast killed at least four people and wounded 18 in a busy commercial district of central Lahore.

No one had claimed responsibility for the blasts.

Pakistan has suffered a series of terrorist attacks linked to both militants angry with the government for siding with the U.S.-led war on terrorism since late 2001, and those involved in sectarian violence between the country”s Sunni and Shi”ite Muslims.

On Wednesday, two people were wounded in two blasts in Kalat city, come 150 km (94 miles) northeast of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province.

Police said time-controlled devices were used. Nobody has claimed responsibility for those attacks either.