MULTAN, Aug 9: An explosion in a house situated in the slums of the city on Monday evening claimed lives of three children. The explosion was so powerful that the victims aged between 4 and 14 years died before any medical aid could be provided to them.

The explosion took place in the house of Hameed, who earns his living by goods transportation at the local fruit and vegetable market through his donkey-driven cart, situated in Haq Town near the Multan Cricket Stadium on Vehari Road.

Mr Hameed told Dawn that his 14-year-old son Khalil also operated a donkey-driven cart. On Monday after doing his work, Khalil returned home with a ball-like device and started playing with his sisters Yasmeen (6) and Nooraan (4) in a room.

He said that after some time he heard a blast in the room where the three children were playing. When he and other members of his family rushed to the room the children were already dead. He said he had eight children with Khalil being the eldest.

District police officer Hamid Mukhtar Gondal rushed to the spot along with a bomb disposal squad. Later talking to Dawn, he said initially the explosive experts had declared the incident an outcome of what he used the term "marriage bomb".

He said unfortunately the people had started using highly explosive material to express joy over marriage ceremonies. He opined that any marriage party passed through the area might have left the bomb behind which incidentally was taken up by Khalil.

The DPO said post-mortem on the body of deceased Khalil was being conducted to ascertain the exact nature of the explosive material. Meanwhile, people were alarmed when someone claimed that a bomb had been planted at a shopping plaza in the busy Hussain Agaahi Bazaar of the city.

Police and other officials immediately got the plaza vacated and launched a search operation. However, no explosive material was recovered from any part of the building.