MULTAN, Pakistan, Sept. 13 (UPI) — Officials are saying error may have caused a blast in central Pakistan Sunday that killed at least 10 people and injured 57.
The explosion originated from a motorcycle near a packed rickshaw stand in Multan, in Punjab province.
Central Police Officer Azhar Akram told Dawn News the “bomb was fitted in the motorcycle” and exploded after a collision with a rickshaw. He said ball bearings had been recovered from the site.
District Commissioner Officer Zahid Saleem Gondal, however, said the rider had been transporting explosive materials that mistakenly blew up in the collision.
Another police official told Xinhua news agency the bomb had been placed in a bag and remotely detonated.
Early reports suggested the bomb exploded after a gas cylinder fitted to the rickshaw was destroyed.
Police are investigating the blast, which destroyed between five and seven rickshaws, a car, two motorbikes, two shops and has not been claimed by militant groups.
Al-Qaida-linked militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for an Aug. 16 suicide attack that killed Shuja Khanzada, the home minister of Punjab province, and 12 others. The militants said the attack was in retaliation for the killing of its leader the month prior.
Sunday’s incident comes two days after Britain pledged to donate to Pakistan equipment for countering the threat of improvised explosive devices and nearly a week after Islamabad announced for the first time its military killed three militants with Pakistani-made drones.
