LAHORE, March 11 (APP): Two powerful blasts rocked the provincial metropolis Tuesday morning resulting in the death of 24 persons and injuries to over 150 others, sending a wave of panic across the city.According to police sources, 20 persons were killed and 150 injured in the powerful blast at the FIA Office at Temple Road here, while four were killed in a blast in Model Town, where three persons were reported injured.

CCPO Lahore, Malik Muhammad Iqbal talking to newsmen said it was suspected that the blast at FIA Office was caused by a suicide bomber who came on a car loaded with explosive material and blew himself up.

The blast was so powerful that the FIA building was badly damaged while window panes of buildings in the surrounding area including the Mall were shattered.

Immediately after the blast, ambulances of Rescue 1122 and Edhi reached the site of the incident and started shifting the injured to hospitals.

Director FIA, Ch Manzoor Hussain talking to newsmen said that the blast occurred near the FIA reception office, adding that all persons present at the reception fell victim to the explosion.

The 114 injured including women and 45 school children were shifted to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.

Hospital sources said the students of the school situated near the FIA building had been brought to the hospital with minor injuries, caused mostly by glass splinters from the breaking windowpanes of their classrooms.

The other blast which took place in Model Town claimed the lives of four persons including two children, while three others sustained injuries.

The front of the building at 83-4 Model Town, which served as the office of an advertising agency, was totally destroyed in the powerful explosion caused by a suicide bomber who drove a vehicle into the building and detonated the explosive material.

The servant’s residential quarters and a house adjoining the building were also badly damaged.

Two of those killed in the blast at Model Town have been identified as 8 year old Seemi and 10 year old Muhammad Hussain.  Another victim of the blast was a women whose identity could not be ascertained immediately, while the fourth was suspected to be the suicide bomber.