ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Twin suicide bombs that killed at least 24 people and injured 200 in the eastern city of Lahore on Tuesday deepened the crisis in the troubled nation and increased the pressure on embattled President Pervez Musharraf, blamed by many for instability in the country.
In Lahore, a car bomb targeted the seven-story headquarters of the federal police, which investigates terrorism and human trafficking, and killed at least 21 people, including 16 officers, police officials said.
Another car bomb exploded at a house near the rented Lahore home of Asif Ali Zardari, the leader of the Pakistan People’s Party, which won the largest number of seats in last month’s parliamentary elections.
The blast had no clear target, killing three people, including two children.
“The suicide bombers have started attacking residential areas, and no one knows if they will return home safe or not,” said Khadam Hussain, whose daughter was at school near the blast.
Zardari told reporters that the blasts in Lahore were a conspiracy against the power-sharing agreement announced Sunday between his party and the party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Both Zardari and Sharif have said they want to negotiate with the militants instead of just fight them — a policy that many security analysts say is doomed to failure.
If more blasts hit Lahore, pressure will only increase on Musharraf and the rest of the government. The city is the capital of Punjab province, the heartland of both Pakistan and its powerful army, and many analysts say if suicide blasts become regular here, the government is in trouble.
Some experts have said militants are trying to take advantage of instability in the country and the transition between military and civilian rule. Some analysts blamed the attacks Tuesday on Islamic militants from the country’s tribal areas upset with the army fighting in the remote area near the border with Afghanistan.
“Most of the army soldiers in the operation against them are from Punjab,” said Muhammad Amir Rana, the director of the Pak Institute for Peace Studies and a terrorism expert. “They want to bleed Lahore.”
