LAHORE, Pakistan - -An explosives-laden van rammed a steel gate outside buildings for Pakistan's top police and intelligence officials in the country's second-largest city Wednesday, killing 30 and injuring more than 250 people.
It was one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Pakistan this year. And it succeeded at again unsettling a nation that had begun to feel a renewed sense of confidence as Pakistani troops continued retaking parts of the country's northwest that had fallen into Taliban hands.
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.
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 on a police academy on Lahore's outskirts that left about 20 people dead, including at least four assailants, March 30. 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.
