PM chairs meeting as toll rises from deadly Lahore bombing

 

LAHORE: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrived in Lahore and chaired a high-level meeting on Monday, a day after a suicide bomber killed over 70 people including women and children at a park on Saturday.

The prime minister was accompanied by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan as he arrived in the provincial capital.

Sharif visited the Jinnah Hospital to inquire about the health of those injured in the deadly blast on the Easter holiday weekend.

Following the deadly attack, Sharif had cancelled his trip to the United Kingdom after holding detailed deliberations at a high-level meeting, a spokesman said.

He said the prime minister would now travel directly to the United States after a couple of days for attending the Nuclear Security Summit 2016.

Hours after the blast, Army Chief General Raheel Sharif held a meeting of his top commanders, expressing resolve to bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice.

Military spokesman Lieutenant General Asim Bajwa tweeted that the Army Chief directed “concerned Intelligence agencies to commence operations as soon as possible to find linkages and perpetrators of Lahore suicide attack.”