Two suicide bomb attacks executed 15 seconds apart tore through the city on Friday, killing at least 39 people and sparking fears of a new wave of militant violence in major cities following a period of relative calm.  The targets of the dual attack were Pakistani military vehicles as they passed through a crowded market known as the RA bazaar.  Lahore police official Chaundhry Shafiq said the bombers detonated explosive filled vests after walking up to the vehicles.

Mohammed Nadeem, an eyewitness to the attack, said he was praying in a mosque when he heard the fire blast and rushed out only to hear a second. Mr. Nadeem, in blood stained clothes said “The second blast took place very near a military vehicle…I sensed real danger and started running.  There were scenes of destruction in nearby restaurants and shops.”  Afzal Awan, another eyewitness, said he had seen wounded people with limbs missing lying in pools of blood.  He told reporters “I saw smoke rising everywhere… a lot of people were crying.”

In total more than 95 people were injured in the explosions, and at least nine soldiers were killed.  No immediate reports were given on the third explosion, but a report has suggested that it occurred near a police station.  No group has claimed responsibility for that attack.

These attacks come four days after a suicide car bomb attack at a building that houses terrorism investigations in Lahore killed at least 13 people and wounded 80 others.

Lahore is Pakistan’s second largest city and its cultural captial.  Lahore has been the scene for some of the deadliest bomb attacks in the country last year, including blasts in December which occurred in a crowded bazaar which killed 48 people, and a raid on the provincial headquarters of Pakistan’s spy agency in May that killed at least 27.

These attacks are carried out by Islamic extremists in retaliation against military offensives that routed Taliban militants from the volatile Swat Valley region and section of the tribal areas along the Afghan border.  The violence has killed more than 600 people.  Although the success of the offensives had recently given Pakistanis confidence that they were gaining the upper hand against the extremists, but a new wave of suicide bombings in Pakistan’s major cities could undermine that momentum.

“The nation and its security forces need to keep morale high,” said Rana Sanaullah, law minister for Punjab province, where Lahore is located.  “We can only win this fight with unity.”