LAHORE, Pakistan, July 2, (AFP): Pakistani police went on high alert Friday after two suicide bombers blew themselves up among crowds of worshippers at a Islamic shrine in the eastern city of Lahore, killing 42 people.
The carnage at the Sufi shrine on Thursday was caught on camera in dramatic CCTV footage showing the bombers and the blast which sent hundreds of panicked worshippers fleeing in all directions engulfed in clouds of white smoke.
Thousands of people staged protests in Lahore and in several other cities after the attack on the shrine dedicated to Sufi saint Hazrat Syed Ali bin Usman Hajweri, popularly known as Data Ganj Bakhsh.
Pakistan’s Taleban, which has been instrumental in a wave of bloody attacks blamed on Islamist militants over the past three years, denied it was involved in Thursday’s bombings which also left scores injured.
Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the attacks, saying: “The government is committed to eradicate the menace of terrorism at all costs.”
Most bazaars and markets remained closed and large numbers of police were on patrol in Lahore, considered a playground for Pakistan’s elite and home to many top brass in the military and intelligence community.

More than 5,000 people, mostly followers of the saint, staged a protest rally in Lahore after Muslim Friday prayers and similar demonstrations were held in other cities across the country.
More than 3,400 people have been killed in a three-year bombing campaign by Islamist extremists to avenge Pakistani military operations and the government’s alliance with the US over the war in neighbouring Afghanistan.
But a spokesman for Tehreek-e-Taleban Pakistan denied it was involved in Thursday’s attack, the second against religious sites in the city of 10 million people in just over a month.
“We are not responsible for these attacks, this is a conspiracy by foreign secret agencies, you know we do not attack public places,” Azam Tariq told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location. “We condemn this brutal act. Our target is very clear and we only attack police, army and other security personnel.”

Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Friday condemned the suicide attack in Lahore as a “vicious and inhuman act”, and offered his “resolute support” for Pakistan’s efforts to battle extremism.
“This was a vicious and inhuman act. Britain stands alongside the people and government of Pakistan against those who commit such appalling atrocities,” Hague said in a statement responding to the bombing, which killed 42 people.
“We will be a firm friend to Pakistan as it works towards a safer and more prosperous future for all its citizens, and will continue our resolute support for efforts to prevent such attacks in the future.”
Hague added that he sent his “deepest sympathies” to those affected by the attack.
The European Union expressed shock on Friday over the suicide attack at an Islamic shrine in Lahore which left 42 people dead, saying it showed “the scale of the terrorist threat” in Pakistan.
“The deadly attack against the Data Darbar Sufi shrine in Lahore is yet another vivid example of the scale of the terrorist threat and extremism in Pakistan,” said the office of EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton.
Ashton was “shocked and saddened at these horrific events and extends her deepest sympathies to the families of the bereaved,” her office said in a statement.
“The European Union strongly supports Pakistan’s efforts to bring the perpetrators of these acts to justice,” the statement said.