LAHORE, Feb 10: Five people suffered injuries while three shops and a rickshaw were burnt in a cylinder blast at an outlet on Abbot Road on Friday.

Police said Naveed ran a shop where he decanted LPG into cylinders. They said Naveed and his staff were decanting LPG into cylinders when a cylinder exploded with a big bang. Naveed and four other people were injured while the outlet along with two adjacent shops besides a rickshaw parked nearby caught fire. Fire tenders took over three hours to put out the blaze.

The injured men were rushed to the Mayo Hospital. Two of them were stated to be in critical condition.

A spokesman for the Lahore DCO said in a statement that a case had already been registered against the shopkeeper, but he continued doing the illegal business. He said another case was registered against him.

He said at least 300 shopkeepers had been booked during a campaign against the illegal business. He said the DCO had ordered to expedite the campaign.