Residents and rescuers gather outside the police hostel in Lahore. — Photo by AFP

LAHORE: Gunmen on Thursday shot dead eight Pakistani police and prison staff, and wounded nine others after storming a building in the eastern city of Lahore where they were sleeping, police said.

It was the second attack in three days on security personnel in the province of Punjab, raising fears of a fresh wave of violence in the political heartland of Pakistan, which has been largely peaceful over the last year.

The attackers arrived on motorbikes and targeted a building in the densely populated area of Ichra, where up to 35 police and prison staff were living, mostly officers from the troubled northwest who were in Lahore for training.

“The gunmen came early in the morning, entered the building and opened fire,” Lahore police chief Aslam Tareen told AFP.

“Eight were martyred and nine others are wounded.” There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The gunmen fled and Tareen said police were investigating who was responsible.

The Pakistani Taliban said it was responsible and vowed more violence in the region.

Opinion

Editorial

Ties with Tehran
Updated 24 Apr, 2024

Ties with Tehran

Tomorrow, if ties between Washington and Beijing nosedive, and the US asks Pakistan to reconsider CPEC, will we comply?
Working together
24 Apr, 2024

Working together

PAKISTAN’S democracy seems adrift, and no one understands this better than our politicians. The system has gone...
Farmers’ anxiety
24 Apr, 2024

Farmers’ anxiety

WHEAT prices in Punjab have plummeted far below the minimum support price owing to a bumper harvest, reckless...
By-election trends
Updated 23 Apr, 2024

By-election trends

Unless the culture of violence and rigging is rooted out, the credibility of the electoral process in Pakistan will continue to remain under a cloud.
Privatising PIA
23 Apr, 2024

Privatising PIA

FINANCE Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb’s reaffirmation that the process of disinvestment of the loss-making national...
Suffering in captivity
23 Apr, 2024

Suffering in captivity

YET another animal — a lioness — is critically ill at the Karachi Zoo. The feline, emaciated and barely able to...