A car bomb blast in Lahore has destroyed the offices of a Pakistani state spy agency, killing 15 people and injuring 83 others, security officials say, Press TV reported.
In the incident, a two-storey building used by the Special Investigation Agency (SIA), a police anti-terrorism unit in Punjab province, was destroyed by a bomber using a car laden with up to 600 kilograms of explosives.
Later, pro-Taliban militants claimed responsibility for the latest bloody attack in an upmarket area of the capital of Punjab.
Javed Akram, the head of Jinnah Hospital, said eight intelligence officials were among the dead. A woman who was taking her daughter to school was also killed. The girl is in critical condition.
The bombing severely damaged a neighboring Muslim seminary and several other buildings and vehicles around the blast site, creating a panic in the area.
Rescue workers and volunteers digging with their bare hands pulled injured employees and bodies out from under the rubble of the collapsed building, which was used to interrogate suspected militants.
Pakistan has experienced a wave of violence since 2007 in which nearly 3,000 people have been killed in bomb attacks and other terrorist operations across the country.