LEAD: Blasts in Pakistani cities injure 30+

0 Comments | Asian Political News, Jan 1, 2001

ISLAMABAD, Dec. 25 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH FRESH INFORMATION)

At least 30 people were injured in bomb blasts in two Pakistani cities Monday afternoon, police and hospital sources said.

They said that 23 people were injured in a blast in the eastern Pakistan city of Lahore at a busy second-hand clothes market, while a bomb in a mini-bus in Hyderabad in the province of Sindh injured seven.

The injured have been taken to hospitals, and five of them are said to be critical.

The blasts took place despite strict security measures put in place by the authorities, who had been alerted that Indian intelligence was expected to retaliate against the storming of the historic Red Fort in New Delhi over the weekend.

The Pakistan-based Kashmiri militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on the army barracks at the Red Fort late Friday which left three people dead.

The fort, built by Shah Jahan, who erected the Taj Mahal, houses an army intelligence interrogation unit for questioning suspects involved in violence in Kashmir.

Both Pakistan and India are accusing each other's intelligence agencies of carrying out the terrorist activities in their cities.