LAHORE, March 13: A team of forensic and technical experts from the United States is arriving here shortly to assist local officials investigating the twin blasts which rocked the city on Tuesday.

Top FIA and police officials sought, through the interior ministry, the US help after concluding that C-4, a highly-destructive explosive material, had been used in the March 11 blasts at the FIA building and an advertising agency office in Model Town. “A team of forensic and technical experts from America is arriving here shortly to assist local investigators, especially in tracing the origin of C-4,” a senior FIA official told Dawn on Thursday.

Two teams of Lahore police, headed by DIG (Investigation) Tussadaq Husain, are probing the blasts while FIA’s Special Investigation Group (SIG) is assisting them in collecting evidence from the crime scene and examining the kind of explosives used.

Capital City Police Officer Malik Iqbal also confirmed that the finest quality of explosives (C-4) had been used in the explosions. He said this form of explosives had never been used in Pakistan.

“To my knowledge it is not locally prepared. A thorough probe is required to know how the terrorists acquired it,” he said.

The CCPO maintained that the chassis number of the mini-truck used in the FIA building blast was found from an eight-foot deep crater. “Only this type of the explosive could cause such a deep crater,” he said.

He said that C-4, in combination with other explosives, could cause large-scale devastation. It is believed that between 60 and 70 kg of explosive material, had been used to destroy the FIA building and 30 and 40kg in the Model Town blast.

Malik Iqbal further said that the chassis number recovered from the FIA site was originally of a car and the motor registration record showed it had been obtained under the Yellow Cab scheme.