LAHORE: Twenty-four people were killed and over 100 others injured including women and children when two consecutive blasts ripped through Lahore’s commercial center on Monday, CCPO Lahore Pervez Rathor said.

Meanwhile, SP Iqbal Town has put the death toll at 15.

Nothing is known so far about the nature of the blasts which occurred at Lahore’s busy Moon Market in Allama Iqbal Town here. The first blast occurred in the middle of the market while the second one near a private bank.

According to Geo News sources, the two blasts occurred within 30 seconds of each other. Fire erupted in the market immediately after the blasts, engulfing a number of shops and motor cycles parked in the nearby parking space.

The powerful blasts also shattered the window panes of the surrounding buildings.

Rescue efforts were immediately started after the blasts and the bodies and injured were being rushed in 1122 ambulances to nearby hospitals where emergency has been declared.

Some of the injured are said to be in serious condition.

DCO Lahore and heavy police contingents along with high officials reached the spot of the tragic incident.

Moon market is a commercial center of Iqbal Town, Lahore, where shoppers are normally present in large numbers. A suicide attack had also been launched at a police station in this area on 13 August last year in which 8 people lost their lives.