Police say explosion at investigative agency’s building kills 3 in eastern Pakistan’s Lahore

Police: Blast kills 3 eastern Pakistan

LAHORE, Pakistan — Police say a large explosion has killed at least three people and heavily damaged a building housing a federal investigative agency in Pakistan’s east.

Police official Chaudhry Shafiq says the explosion appeared to be a suicide car bomb.

It went off outside the Federal Investigative Unit’s building in Lahore on Monday. Other buildings also were damaged and rescuers scrambled to save who they could at the scene.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A large explosion heavily damaged a building housing a government investigative agency in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore on Monday, police said. Casualties were feared, and rescuers scrambled to search for people trapped in the rubble.

The explosion appeared to be the biggest to strike the nuclear-armed, U.S.-allied country in several weeks.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicion immediately fell on the Pakistani Taliban and allied militant groups responsible for a wave of attacks that killed more than 600 people late last year — a stretch of violence that appeared to be retaliation for a military offensive against insurgents along the Afghan border.

The explosion in Lahore went off outside the Federal Investigation Agency building near the perimeter wall, police official Zulfikar Hameed said. TV footage showed a huge crater in the ground where the blast seemed to have originated, indicating it was a car bomb.

Parts of the brick building appeared to have collapsed, and there were piles of bricks and metal everywhere at the site, the footage showed. Ambulances rushed to the area.

The FIA is a civilian law enforcement agency that has been targeted by militant attacks before, though it appeared to be the first time this particular building had been hit.