Lahore: Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah on Tuesday claimed the target of the suicide bomber was the meeting of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, the younger brother of Pakistan's Prime Minister.
Sanaullah had earlier said police personnel were the target of the attack, claimed by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter group of Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.
"The target of suicide bomber was the meeting of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif," Sanaullah said, citing intelligence reports.
The CM's meeting which was scheduled to be held at 7.30 PM yesterday was cancelled after the blast.
Some 13 people mostly policemen including senior officers were killed when a teenage suicide bomber blew himself up after reaching near the police officers who were negotiating with protesting chemists outside the Punjab Assembly on the Mall Road yesterday. More than 80 others suffered injuries.
On the other hand, some other provincial ministers - Zaeem Qadri and Salman Rafique - and Punjab Inspector General Police Mushtaq Sukhera had claimed that the senior police officers were the target of the suicide bomber.
"The meeting of CM was scheduled at 7.30 PM yesterday while the blast took place at 6.10 PM disputing the law minister's claim," a senior Lahore police officer told PTI when his comment was sought on Sanaullah's fresh claim.
The officer further said there has been multiple security layers of the CM's security as a suicide bomber even can not reach the gate of his office building.
"It is naive to say that the suicide bomber was sent to target CM Shahbaz. Senior police officers were the target who were exposed because of no security layer at the protest demonstration," he said.
Sanaullah said the suicide bomber's head has been recovered by the police.
He claimed that the information gleaned so far about the suicide bomber matches the one released by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar.
The group was involved in two major bombings in Lahore at Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park and Wagah border in the past.
