Pakistan: Eight killed in bomb, gunfire attack on police headquarters in Lahore

At least eight people were killed on Tuesday following a large explosion and gunfire at regional police headquarters in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore, a witness said. 

The explosion came from a car near the police building, said spokeswoman Nabeela Ghazanfar, adding it was unclear if the attack involved a suicide bomber.

The blast was followed by rapid gunfire, said eyewitness Ashraf Ali, who works at the press club nearby. The attack was still in progress and at least three bodies were lying in the street, he said.

The explosion took place near the main gate of Police Lines in Qila Gujjar Singh which is a densely populated area in Lahore, says dawn.com report. The area has been cordoned off by security forces.

Security vehicles parked close to the site of the blast caught fire and window panes of buildngs in the vicinity were shattered due to the impact of the blast, the report said.

Emergency has been declared in hospitals in Lahore, says report. 

Television channels later said the firing had stopped.

Pakistan has suffered two major militant attacks in the past month. Sixty people were killed in an attack on a Shi'ite mosque on January 30 in the southern province of Sindh, and another attack this month on a Shi'ite mosque in the city of Peshawar killed 19.

Militant groups said this was a response to the government's lifting of a moratorium on the death penalty for those convicted of terrorist attacks.

The moratorium was lifted after a Taliban attack on a school in the northern city of Peshawar killed 134 children and 19 adults. 

(With agency inputs)