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Bombing in eastern Pakistan city kills one, injures nine
A time bomb went off near a crowded public park in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore on Thursday, killing one person and injuring nine, police said. Police said the bomb was planted under the seat of bicycle parked near a food vendor's cart. Three of the injured were in serious condition. "It is an act of terrorism," said Mobin Ahmed, security police chief for Lahore, but did not speculate who might be behind it. He described the bomb as a "locally made high-intensity time device." The explosion occurred at the side of a main road during rush hour and caused a stampede by hundreds of panicked people inside the adjoining park although none were injured. The road was blocked off and traffic was diverted, as police and explosives experts sifted through the debris for evidence. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Pakistan is often hit by bombings motivated by sectarian hatred and opposition to the government's support of the U.S.-led war on terrorism. Sometimes attacks are motivated by business disputes and political rivalry. Thursday's bomb went off near Manto Park in central Lahore that houses a tall monument commemorating a March 23, 1940, declaration by Muslim leaders to create a separate homeland on the Indian subcontinent that became Pakistan. Before the blast, hundreds of people had gathered in the park after a man jumped to his death from the monument. Ahmed said the suicide had nothing to do with the bombing.
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