The December 2009 Lahore attacks were a series of two bomb blasts and a shooting which occurred in a crowded market in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

on 7 December 2009. At least 54 people were killed & about 150 others wounded.

Attacks

The blasts took place in the Moon Market of Lahore's

Allama Iqbal town Allama Iqbal Town ( ur, ) (also known as Iqbal Town or abbreviated as AIT) is a commercial and a residential locality in the south-western Lahore. It is named after Allama Iqbal, the national poet of Pakistan. Development was started in the l ...

late in the night. One of the blasts was in front of

Muslim Commercial Bank MCB Bank Limited () is a Pakistani multinational commercial bank which is based in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. The majority of shares are owned by Pakistani conglomerate Nishat Group and Malaysian bank Maybank. The bank has a network of 1,600 br ...

and the second one was in front of Moon Market faisal irfan jewellers. The two blasts which were within 30 seconds of each other resulted in a blaze which engulfed the shops in the market. The attack came at about 9:00 pm local time and struck a corner of the market where women were buying clothes. After the blasts the militants fired at the people fleeing the scene. Most of the victims were women. The second blast was near an electricity pole and caused a short circuit which is thought to have led to the fire.

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After initial investigations Civil Defence District Officer Mazhar Ahmed stated that it appeared that both blasts were caused by

suicide bombers A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout histor ...

. According to preliminary reports the bombers were about 18 years of age and from southern

Punjab (Pakistan) Punjab (; , ) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in central-eastern region of the country, Punjab is the second-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the largest province by population. It shares land borders with the ...

. The

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

sent a team to the market who collected samples of explosives and other evidence from the site. Widespread

conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a nega ...

circulated after the attacks that India and United States were behind the violence and government officials stoked this perception. However analyst Hassan Askari-Rizvi dismissing these theories stated that the idea that India may be behind the terror attacks is "a very widely shared perception, but there's hardly any evidence to substantiate that. They

he militants He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

have attacked civilians in the past. I think the government consciously creates that confusion."Pakistan attacks: Officials feed suspicion that India, US are to blame
''

The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...

'', 2009-12-08

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Terrorists target market in Lahore

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's horizo ...

20 injured in two explosions in Lahore
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lahore Attacks, 2009 21st-century mass murder in Pakistan Terrorist incidents in Pakistan in 2009 Mass murder in 2009 Improvised explosive device bombings in Pakistan Spree shootings in Pakistan Iqbal Town, Lahore Terrorist incidents in Lahore December 2009 events in Pakistan 2000s in Lahore Attacks on buildings and structures in Pakistan Marketplace attacks in Pakistan Mass murder in Lahore

Attacks

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