LAHORE, Pakistan — Officers guarding buildings for some of the Pakistani heartland’s top police and intelligence officials saw the gunmen jump out of a white van stopped at their gate.
The assailants wore white shirts and trousers, and they sprayed gunfire in the air and at police. One tossed a grenade in the direction of officers who had begun firing back.
Then, on a bustling workday morning in the heart of Pakistan’s second-largest city, the explosives-laden van rammed the steel gate and exploded. The blast razed an emergency-services building and sheared off a wall from the intelligence agency building next door. By Wednesday afternoon, authorities had put the death toll at 30, with more than 250 people injured.
It was one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Pakistan this year.
Although no group had claimed responsibility, Pakistani authorities and experts said the attack could have been a retaliatory strike resulting from the Pakistani military’s ongoing offensive to regain control of the embattled Swat Valley and surrounding regions from Taliban militants.
The target was clear. The van, laden with what Lahore police official Suhail Sukhera said was 220 pounds of explosives, detonated just outside buildings that housed the headquarters for the Punjab provincial branch of Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan’s intelligence agency, Lahore’s police chief offices and emergency services headquarters, and several homes belonging to top local police officials.
“These buildings were sensitive,” said Sukhera, as he visited injured police officers in a recovery ward at Ganga Ram Hospital. Some officers suffered gunshot wounds, while others had large head and chest gashes created by the blast.
“What are we going to do? We’re in a state of war,” Sukhera said. “They’re trying to harass us, but I’ll tell you what. They’ll fail. You’ll see us back at our offices tomorrow.”
Authorities said they had suspects in custody, but there were varying reports of how many were arrested. Sukhera said two men were arrested. Pakistani television reported that as many as five people had been detained. Pakistan’s Dawn channel reported that two of the suspects were connected to a group linked to Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud. The report, however, could not be verified.
Mehsud claimed responsibility for a daring daytime raid March 30 on a police academy on Lahore’s outskirts that left about 20 people dead, including at least four assailants. Earlier in March, militants attacked the Sri Lankan national cricket team during its visit to Lahore, leaving seven people dead, including six police officers.
Since the offensive to oust the Taliban began about a month ago, Pakistani military leaders have been touting the gains that troops have made against militants they have described as “on the run.” Military spokesmen have said that more than 1,100 militants have been killed in the fighting.
On Wednesday, military officials said 70 percent of Mingora, Swat’s main city, had been cleared of Taliban militants.
