LAHORE, Aug 29: At least four people were injured, one of them critically, after a bomb exploded in a busy market in the Gulberg area here on Tuesday night. The device had been planted between two cars parked outside a shoe store in the Liberty Market when it went off at about 7:35pm. “The blast occurred in front of my shop, leaving me and my customers shell-shocked,” said shopkeeper Hamid.

“Thank God, my children are safe,” said Rafia, who was inside a shop near the blast site along with her three sons.

Over half a dozen vehicles were damaged by the blast, which smashed windowpanes of more than a dozen shops.

The market, which usually remains open till late night, closed down minutes after the explosion. However, traders whose shops were damaged did not leave the place till late night.

Soon after the blast, personnel of various law-enforcement agencies, including the bomb disposal squad and Edhi volunteers arrived at the spot and shifted the injured to the Services Hospital where the condition of 50-year-old Wazir was said to be critical.

An official of the bomb disposal squad said that the device was home-made and was probably packed with 1.5kg or 2kg of explosives. He said it created a three-inch crater at the blast site.

Capital City Police Chief Khawaja Khalid Farooq said close-circuit cameras had recorded two young men roaming near the site just before the explosion. They would soon be arrested, he said, adding that it was a low-intensity device. He, however, said that the blast had injured only one man.

Commenting on the possibility if the blast was linked with the killing of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, Mr Farooq said that all the possible motives would be looked into.

Meanwhile, the police has cordoned the site and was sifting through the wreckage.