Lahore Suicide Bombing (February 2017)
The Lahore suicide bombing on February 13, 2017, was a tragic militant attack that targeted a protest outside the Provincial Assembly of Punjab in Lahore, Pakistan. The bombing resulted in at least thirteen fatalities and over fifty injuries, with the militant group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claiming responsibility for the attack. This incident occurred amid a broader wave of terrorist violence in Pakistan during February 2017, which resulted in significant casualties across the nation.
The attack unfolded during a demonstration by pharmacists and chemists opposing new legislation affecting medication costs and availability. It specifically aimed at local police present to maintain order, highlighting the changing dynamics of target selection in such attacks. In the aftermath, the Punjab government initiated Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad, a comprehensive counter-terrorism campaign that included extensive searches and arrests to combat militant activities in the region.
Notably, the bombing was one of several incidents linked to Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, which had previously claimed responsibility for a devastating Easter Sunday attack in March 2016. The ongoing threat from various terrorist factions reflects the complex security challenges faced by Pakistan, a nation that has been a significant player in the global fight against terrorism.
Subject Terms
Lahore Suicide Bombing (February 2017)
Date: February 13, 2017
Place: Lahore, Pakistan
Summary
The Lahore bombing in February 2017 was a militant suicide attack targeting protesters gathered outside the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab building in Lahore, Pakistan, leaving at least thirteen dead and more than fifty injured. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility through a statement.
Key Events
- March 27, 2016—Jamaat-ul-Ahrar takes responsibility for a suicide bombing attack at Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park in Lahore, Pakistan, on Easter Sunday, killing more than seventy and injuring more than three hundred.
- February 13, 2017—Suicide bomber attacks a protest in Lahore, killing at least thirteen and wounding more than fifty.
- February 17, 2017—Punjab chief minister announces the arrest of a suspect allegedly involved in the February 13 suicide attack.
Status
In February 2017, there was a large wave of terrorist attacks in Pakistan, collectively resulting in at least one hundred dead and hundreds more injured. In response, the Pakistani government initiated a new antiterrorism program, Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad, which included a massive series of searches and investigations in Punjab and other regions as well as an effort to strengthen border control, especially along the border with Afghanistan. More than two thousand rangers were deployed to Punjab to help local forces combat terrorist cells operating in the area. As of March 2017, police and military raids related to Radd-ul-Fasaad had reportedly resulted in hundreds of arrests and detainments. The day after the operation began, the government announced that two high-profile members of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, Wajihullah and Hikmat, had been killed by soldiers during an operation along the Afghanistan border. Pakistani military officials alleged that Wajihullah organized the Lahore suicide attack on February 13.
In-Depth Overview
The predominantly Islamic nation of Pakistan has been a frequent target for terrorist violence in the 2010s from a variety of terrorist factions active in Pakistan and neighboring nations. Pakistan has been allied with the United States since the US-initiated War on Terror that began after the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, and has helped to combat the Pakistani Taliban, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and other militant groups active in the nation.
Pakistan has been targeted by both foreign and domestic terrorists. The Pakistani Taliban, or Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), is a radical Islamist organization that formed in 2007 through a union of several tribal separatist groups in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), a large region in the northwestern portion of the country. Though sharing a name, the TTP differs from the Afghan Taliban in terms of overall goals, as the TTP is primarily a separatist group that wants to create an independent Islamic nation in the FATA that would be governed under a highly conservative interpretation of Islamic law. US drone strikes killed most of the TTP's original leaders and the group has splintered several times, giving rise to semi-independent factions. As of 2017, the most prominent faction of the TTP is the terrorist organization known as Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, which was led by former TTP leader Omar Khalid Khorasani until his reported death in 2016 in a suspected US drone strike.
On February 7, 2017, the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NCTA) issued a warning stating that an unidentified terrorist group was planning an attack in Lahore. Lahore has been targeted by terrorist groups on several occasions, including a March 2016 park bombing that resulted in more than seventy deaths and hundreds injured, many of whom were women and children visiting the park for an Easter celebration. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for the Easter Sunday attack and claimed to have been targeting Christians gathered at the park, though government reports indicated that most of the victims were Muslim.
On the evening of February 13, during a protest march in which a group of hundreds of pharmacists and chemists gathered to oppose a new law that would affect the availability and cost of medication, a terrorist allegedly representing Jamaat-ul-Ahrar detonated an explosive device near the crowd. Medical officials reported that at least thirteen had been killed in the initial blast with more than fifty others injured. Local media later reported that two senior police officials in Lahore, Zahid Gondal and Ahmad Mobin, were among at least six police officers killed in the bombing and that authorities believed the intention was to target police gathered to control the protest.
Shortly after the attack, a spokesman for Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for the attack, though officials were unable to corroborate the claim. On February 17, Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif announced that police had arrested Anwar-ul-Haq, who was believed to have facilitated the February 13 bombing, and on February 18, police announced the arrest of two of his brothers, who had allegedly aided in planning and carrying out the attack. According to local press, Anwar-ul-Haq admitted to being a member of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and claimed he had received terrorist training in Afghanistan.
Key Figures
Anwar-ul-Haq: Man suspected of facilitating the attack against the protest in Lahore.
Shehbaz Sharif: Chief minister of Punjab.
Wajihulla: Jamaat-ul-Ahrar member believed to have planned the suicide bombing in Lahore.
Bibliography
Boone, J. (2017, February 13). Lahore blast: Several killed as "suicide bomb" hits Pakistan rally. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/13/lahore-blast-bomb-pakistan-rally
Constable, P. (2017, February 13). Suicide bombing at Pakistan protest kills at least 13. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia‗pacific/blast-at-pakistan-protest-rally-kills-at-least-16/2017/02/13/d567959c-f1f7-11e6-b9c9-e83fce42fb61‗story.html?utm‗term=.f9409bb6dd96
Hassan, D., & Masood, S. (2017, February 13). Suicide bomber kills 13 at protest in Lahore, Pakistan. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/13/world/asia/lahore-pakistan-bombing.html
Lahore Mall Road blast mastermind killed on Pak-Afghan border. (2017, February 23). The Express Tribune. Retrieved from https://tribune.com.pk/story/1336718/security-forces-recover-23-ieds-balochistan-raid/
Punjab CM announces arrest of Lahore suicide blast "facilitator." (2017, February 17). DAWN. Retrieved from https://www.dawn.com/news/1315347/punjab-cm-announces-arrest-of-lahore-suicide-blast-facilitator