LAHORE, Pakistan (AFP) - At least 15 people were killed Monday and 100 others wounded when twin bomb blasts ripped through a busy market in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore, police officials said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but cultural hub Lahore has frequently been targeted by Taliban militants waging a two-and-a-half year Insurgency that has killed more than 2.600 people in Pakistan.
"Fifteen people are confirmed dead. The number of injured is about 100 Apparently these were remote-controlled bomb blasts," Lahore police chief Muhammad Pervez Rathore told AFP.
Jahanzeb Fahim, a spokesman for the rescue service in Lahore, confirmed that 15 dead bodies had been pulled from the blast site. They said that at least 60 people had been wounded in the attack.
The two fierce explosions struck about 30 meters (yards) apart and set shops and buildings ablaze at the popular Moon Market.
"There were two blasts with an interval of about 30 seconds. One was in front of a bank and one was in front of a police station," said city police official Shafiq Ahmad.
Pakistan TV stations Showed footage of buildings in flames as rescue workers rushed to the chaotic scene and Firemen struggled To put out the blaze.
Vehicles and shops were badly damaged in the Moon Market area in the center of the city of nearly eight million people.
Earlier on Monday, 10 people were killed when a suicide bomber struck outside a court in the northwestern city Peshawar, Which has borne the brunt of Taliban attacks Avenging military offensives against them across the region.
Lahore has also been in the crosshairs of the insurgents, with five Militant strikes this year killing more than 70 people in a city known for its universities, Buzzing theater scene and art galleries.
It is the capital of Punjab, Pakistan's Most Populous Province, with many of the nation's senior military figures hailing from the area.
In March, masked gunmen opened fire on the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team in central Lahore, killing eight people and wounding six players.
Similar commando-style assaults hit three police centers on October 15 Twenty-eight people died after gunmen attacked with suicide vests and Grenades.
Insurgent attacks have Intensified this year as the military pursues offensives against Taliban strongholds across the North West.
October and early November saw a fierce surge in attacks, including a huge suicide car Bombing on October 28 that ripped through a Peshawar market killing 125 people in the worst attack in Pakistan in two years.
There had been a lull in attacks in recent weeks, then on Friday at Four Suicide Bombers stormed a mosque in Islamabad's twin city Rawalpindi, killing 36 people in an Onslaught of gunfire, explosions and Grenades.
Pakistan's military is engaged in offensives against Islamists fighters across much of the North West including the tribal areas Bordering Afghanistan, a region branded by Washington as the most dangerous place on Earth.
The tribal belt has been Plagued by instability for years, exacerbated in 2001 when a US-led invasion ousted the Taliban regime from Afghanistan, sending hundreds of Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants into the region Lawless.
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