LAHORE, Pakistan - A series of small blasts went off near a major government building and a theatre in eastern Pakistan late Friday, but there was no immediate confirmation of any casualties.
Police say they were still trying to determine the cause of the explosions in Lahore, a city that has largely escaped the scores of suicide and other bomb attacks that have beleaguered Pakistan in the past two years.
Senior police official Chaudhry Mohammad Shafiq says they seemed to have been "low-intensity bomb blasts."
The blasts occurred near the building housing the Punjab province assembly and the Al-Falah Theatre in Lahore. Local media reported a handful of people were injured, but authorities would not immediately confirm that.
Most of the attacks in Pakistan in recent years have occurred in its northwest regions near the border with Afghanistan where the military has been staging offensives against al-Qaida and Taliban militant strongholds.
However, Lahore, a city near the border with India, has not entirely escaped the violence. Last month, a bomb-rigged truck exploded in a heavily guarded neighbourhood that is home to many government officials, killing one person.
Television footage caught at least one small blast which appeared to hit at the main gate of the theatre Friday.
Sajjad Ahmed Bhutta, a top district administration official, hinted the explosions may have been targeted at the theatre.
"It seems to be an attempt to hurt the cultural activities of the city," he said.
Mian Nadeem, who works in an office of a private company nearby, said he rushed downstairs after hearing the first explosion.
"Then there were three more blasts, one after the other," he said. "Everybody ran in frenzy. It was panic everywhere."
