70 killed in terror attacks on Lahore mosques

Lahore: Suspected Islamist militants attacked two mosques packed with hundreds of worshippers from a minority sect in eastern Pakistan on Friday, laying siege to one center in a standoff with police, officials and witnesses said. More than 70 people died, and dozens were wounded.

The assaults were carried out by at least seven attackers, including three suicide bombers, and several worshippers were held hostage, officials said. One gunman fired his rifle while positioned atop a minaret.

The assaults in Lahore against the Ahmadi community illustrate the threat minority religious groups face in Pakistan, a Muslim-majority nation whose longtime struggle with sectarianism has been exacerbated by the violent rise of the Sunni extremist Taliban and al-Qaida movements.

Ahmadis are reviled as heretics by mainstream Muslims for their belief that their sect's founder was a savior foretold by the Quran. The group has experienced years of state-sanctioned discrimination and occasional attacks by radical Sunni Muslims in Pakistan, but never before in such a large and coordinated fashion.

The attacks Friday took place in the Model Town and Garhi Shuha neighborhoods of Lahore, Pakistan's second-largest city and one of its politically and militarily most important.

The assault at Model Town was brief, with at least 20 people killed there, hospital official Rizwan Naseer said.

Several kilometers away at Garhi Shahu, the standoff lasted hours.

One attacker climbed atop the minaret of the mosque, firing an assault rifle and throwing hand grenades, TV footage showed. Outside the mosque, police traded bullets with the gunmen, an Associated Press reporter at the scene saw.

Inside, attackers were suspected of holding hostages, police officer Imtiaz Ahmad said.

At least 70 people were killed in the two attacks, while more than 80 were wounded, Lahore's deputy commissioner Sajjad Bhutta said. A breakdown for each location was not immediately available.

He said at least seven attackers were involved in the two attacks. Three of them at Garhi Shahu exploded their suicide vests when commandoes stormed the mosque.