Explosions in Lahore kill 22 people

LAHORE, Pakistan, March 11 (UPI) -- Powerful explosions Tuesday rocked Lahore, killing at least 22 people in the second such major attack this month in Pakistan's second largest city.

The state-run Associated Press of Pakistan said two explosions occurred at an office of the Federal Investigation Agency, in which 18 people in the office's reception area were killed.

A third explosion in Lahore's Model Town residential area killed four people in a building that housed the office of an advertising agency. The entire structure was destroyed after a suicide bomber crashed his explosives-laden vehicle into the building, the APP agency reported.

Scores more were injured in the explosions.

The APP quoted police chief Manzoor Hussain that it had not been determined whether the attacks at the FIA were by suicide bombers or the bombs had been planted in the area.

"It is not yet clear as to how saboteurs succeeded in their nefarious designs," he said.

The state-run agency said those killed in the Model Town blasts included an eight-year-old girl, a 10-year-old boy, a woman and the suicide bomber.

President Pervez Musharraf condemned the attacks but vowed, "the acts of terrorism cannot deter government's resolve to fight the scourge with full force," the APP reported.

CNN reported there were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attacks. The report said the FIA, where security is supposed to be tight, is similar to the FBI in the United States.