Blast on Lahore’s Mall Road Kills 13, Several Injured: Pak Media

A vehicle, presumably filled with explosives, blew up while a protest was in progress in the area.

Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said the blast, which took place near the Punjab Assembly, was a suicide attack. (Photo: ANI)

An explosion near the state assembly in the Pakistani city of Lahore killed at least 13 people and wounded over 85 people on Monday, as reported by Reuters.

Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said the blast was a suicide attack. Local media reports said the blast took place early on Monday evening.

Local police official Ali Raza said the blast occurred when a man on a motorcycle rammed into a crowd of hundreds of pharmacists, who were protesting amendments to a law governing drug sales.

A spokesman for Jamaat-ur-Ahrar, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, called Reuters and claimed responsibility for the attack.

Lahore was the site of an Easter Day bombing last year that killed more than 70 people in a public park.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said the attacks will not weaken Pakistan's resolve in its fight against militancy.

"We have fought this fight against the terrorists among us, and will continue to it until we liberate our people of this cancer, and avenge those who have laid down their lives for us," Sharif said in a statement.

(With inputs from Reuters, AP and ANI)